The Broad Front's candidate beat former president Luis Alberto Lacalle Herrera of the Nacional Party in the second round of voting.

In addition to the presidency, the Broad Front won a simple majority in the Uruguayan Senate and Chamber of Representatives.

[1] In 2014, former president Tabaré Vázquez retook power after defeating, in a second round, the candidate of the National Party, Luis Lacalle Pou, who would be the winner of the 2019 election, surpassing the socialist Daniel Martínez with 50.79 to 49.2 percent of the vote.

[3] Until 1919, and from 1934 to 1952, Uruguay's political system, based on the 1830 Constitution, was presidential with strong executive power, similar to that of the United States (but centralized rather than federal).

In the 19th century, Uruguay had similar characteristics to other Latin American countries, including caudillism, civil wars and permanent instability (40 revolts between 1830 and 1903), control of important economic sectors in the hands of foreign capital, a high rate of illiteracy (more than half the population in 1900), and a landed oligarchy.

Yet Montevideo became a refuge for Argentine exiles fleeing the dictatorship of Juan Manuel de Rosas and maintained a reputation as a welcoming place for "advanced" ideas of political and social protest.

The liberal José Batlle y Ordóñez (in power between 1903 and 1907, then between 1911 and 1915) was the main architect of this transformation; freedom of expression and the press was affirmed, as was that of suffrage.

This period also saw the abolition of the death penalty, a fight against administrative corruption, and the introduction of secularism and women's suffrage.

"Batllism" also took the form of social measures, including the introduction of free and compulsory primary education, maternity leave and the eight-hour day, as well as support for trade unions and the recognition of the right to strike.

The judiciary of Uruguay is headed by the Supreme Court of Justice, whose members are appointed by the General Assembly through a two-thirds majority and whose terms last ten years.