Uruguay vote rejects oil policy

Last Updated: Monday, 8 December, 2003, 15:00 GMT

Uruguay vote rejects oil policy


President Jorge Batlle's re-election chances are looking slimmer
Uruguayans have voted to overturn a law that would have opened up the country's oil market to foreign investors.
Early results of Sunday's referendum show that voters have rejected the controversial law by a majority of more than 60%, electoral officials said.

The oil trade privatisation 'no' vote is a setback for Uruguay's centre right president Jorge Batlle.

The rejection of the law, which Batlle backed, is being seen as a foretaste of presidential elections in October 2004.


Unpopular president

Commentators say the South American country's President Jorge Batlle could lose power if the shift to the left continues. (snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3300199.stm

and maybe he will lose the presidential election as well

Maybe they are referring to reelection of the Batlle's party (Partido Colorado). The system in Uruguay is such that a president can't serve two consecutive terms, but can serve multiple non-consecutive ones.

Besides that, if there was reelection he would loose badly. The left (Frente Amplio) has been growing a lot, election after election. So much so that for the last elections they changed the electoral system to one with two rounds. Since there are three big parties (two conservatives and the left), the second round basically ensures a conservative president. Things will become less clear cut for the coming elections since there is no second round if one candidate achives a certaing number of votes...

Regarding the vote on the monopoly of the oil refineries and related stuff, I'm somewhat divided: since I have lived here in the US for some time I have learned to appreciate the benefits of competition. The problem is that I look at South America and all the examples of privatization have turned out to be devastating for the people. Just look at Argentina.. :-P

Cheers..

May they just sink in their own greed.

Good.

Mercosur's version... They're predicting that the left wing coalition could finally in 2004, make it to the presidency in the first round.

<clips>

...The long debated bill that began in 2001 and was jointly drafted by all parties in Parliament, but later only approved by the ruling coalition, was recalled appealing to the referendum mechanism contemplated in the Uruguayan Constitution with the valid signatures of 10% of the electorate.

The year long signature collection mechanism however rapidly turned the referendum into a confidence vote for the government when it coincided with one of the worst financial crises in Uruguay’s history following the collapse of neighbouring Argentina’s economy.

Several banks failed, foreign currency deposits were frozen, the economy contracted over 10% in 2002 after four years of recession, unemployment rocketed, emigration to Europe and United States ballooned and the general mood of the country turned particularly sour.

Eclectic President Jorge Batlle’s (“route-less George”) support plummeted to a mere 14% and ongoing scandals related to the banking crisis confirmed that a majority of Uruguayans didn’t even bother to read the 18 articles of the bill and were determined to punish the government for repeated failings.

http://www.falkland-malvinas.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=2961

Any setback to the neo-liberal global agenda is a people's victory.

interested?:think: