MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Uruguayans Sunday appeared to have elected the nation's first leftist leader, ending the 180-year reign of its traditional party leadership.
A local polling firm reported that Tabare Vazquez - the one-time mayor of the capital, Montevideo, won more than 50 percent of the vote, which according to Uruguayan electoral law is necessary to avoid a runoff vote next month.
Uruguay's other two candidates hailing from the country's two traditional leading parties -- Sen. Jorge Larranaga of the White Party and former Interior Minister Guillermo Stirling from the Colorado Party -- trailed far behind with 30 percent and 10 percent respectively.
Vazquez has promoted himself as a man of the people whose principal interest is helping the poor and disenfranchised while working to improve the country's anemic economy.
