Oncologist Tabare Vazquez is Uruguay's new president

(AGI) Montevideo, Dec 1 - Tabare Vazquez, a 74-year-old oncologist, won Uraguay's presidential election on Sunday with 53.6 percent of votes. He succeeds Jose Mujica, who shocked the world with his liberal reforms and penny-pinching. Vazquez, who was president from 2005 to 2010, topped centre-right rival Luis Lacalle Pou of the National Party 53% to 40%. Mr Pou, 41, a conservative, is the son of a former president. Mr Vazquez will lead the third consecutive liberal government, and faces the economic challenges of a country with three million inhabitants. He will also proceed with a plan to put the government in charge of regulating the production, distribution and sale of marijuana on a nationwide scale, about which he had expressed doubts. This amounts to something of a paradox for a doctor who did not give up his profession during his first mandate, when he passed extremely tough anti-smoking measures.

In 2006, Vazquez turned a country of 3.3 million inhabitants into the first South American country to prohibit smoking in public places. In 2010, tobacco company Philip Morris International filed a complaint against Uruguay, claiming that the country had violated a bilateral investment treaty with Switzerland, where the company is based, and that up to 80 percent of cigarette packs was taken up with anti-smoking warnings. The authorities in Uruguay, where smoking is only allowed in the street, have stressed that the sale of cannabis does not amount to liberalisation, but is a state-regulated market. (AGI) . .

http://www.agi.it/en/world/news/oncologist_tabare_vazquez_is_uruguay_s_new_president-201412011804-pol-inw0007

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Uruguay's Vazquez wins presidential vote, extends leftist rule
Reuters
By By Malena Castaldi and Esteban Farat | Reuters – Mon 1 Dec, 2014..

By Malena Castaldi and Esteban Farat

MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - Tabare Vazquez won back his old job as president of Uruguay in a runoff election on Sunday, extending the decade-long rule of a leftist coalition and allowing it to roll out a groundbreaking law that legalizes the production and sale of marijuana.

Vazquez won comfortably with 52.8 percent support while his center-right challenger, Luis Lacalle Pou, trailed on 40.5 percent, official results showed late on Sunday night.

Lacalle Pou earlier conceded defeat after quick counts showed an easy victory for Vazquez, and thousands of ruling Broad Front supporters streamed through the rain-soaked streets of Montevideo, waving party banners in celebration.

Vazquez, 74, is a respected oncologist who helped heal rifts inside the Broad Front in the late 1990s and led it to power in 2005, ending two decades of conservative rule that followed a military dictatorship.

More:
https://in.news.yahoo.com/uruguayan-ruling-partys-vazquez-wins-presidential-election-021913188--business.html

Published on Monday, December 01, 2014

by Common Dreams

'Safeguarding Historic Marijuana Legalization,' Uruguay's Vazquez Wins Election

'Uruguayans have said yes … yes to more democracy,' the former president declared

by Andrea Germanos, staff writer



Uruguay's ex-president Tabare Vazquez was declared on Sunday the winner of the country's presidential election, an outcome that is expected to keep in place implementation of historic marijuana reform.

Vazquez's win marks a continuation of power for the leftist Broad Front coalition.

Reuters reported: "Center-right opposition candidate Luis Lacalle Pou quickly conceded defeat after three unofficial quick counts showed Vazquez with over 53 percent support. Lacalle Pou trailed with about 41 percent of the vote."

At a victory rally, Vazquez said: "Uruguayans have said yes … yes to more democracy … yes to better public services."

More:
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/12/01/safeguarding-historic-marijuana-legalization-uruguays-vazquez-wins-election