The president is directly elected to a five-year term, and may hold nonconsecutive terms. The most recent general elections were held in two rounds, in October and November 2019. The ticket of Luis Lacalle Pou and Beatriz Argimón of the center-right Partido Nacional captured the presidency and vice presidency after a close runoff decided by approximately 37,000 votes. Lacalle Pou—a senator and son of a former president—defeated Daniel Martínez, the former mayor of Montevideo, of the center-left Frente Amplio in the runoff. Lacalle Pou was scheduled to be sworn into office in early 2020. The election took place peacefully and stakeholders accepted their results, even with the razor-thin margin.

The bicameral General Assembly consists of the 99-member Chamber of Representatives and the 30-member Senate, with all members directly elected for five-year terms. No single party achieved a majority in the October 2019 elections. The Frente Amplio retained the most representatives but saw a drop in numbers; the party went from 50 seats in the Chamber of Representatives to 42, and saw representation in the Senate reduced from 15 to 13. Meanwhile, Lacalle Pou’s Partido Nacional in November 2019 built a predominantly center-right coalition with four other parties—the Partido Colorado (Colorado Party), the newly formed Cabildo Abierto (Open Cabildo), the Partido de la Gente (People’s Party), and the Partido Independiente (Independent Party)—that together won 57 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 17 seats in the Senate. There are currently 9 women senators and 21 women serving in the Chamber of Representatives. The elections took place peacefully, and stakeholders accepted their results.

Uruguay’s Electoral Court serves as the highest authority on elections and supervises the National Electoral Office, which oversees voter registration and has one office in each of the country’s regional departments. Electoral laws are generally fair, and the Electoral Court, whose nine members are elected by both houses of Parliament with a two-thirds majority, is generally viewed as impartial. Voting is compulsory.

Uruguay’s multiparty system is open and competitive. The major political groupings are the Colorado Party, the Frente Amplio coalition, the Independent Party, and the Partido Nacional (also known as Blanco). Partido Nacional, with its coalition partners, was to take power in early 2020.

Opposition parties are regularly competitive in the national elections.

People’s political choices are generally free from undue influence from undemocratic actors.

The Afro-Uruguayan minority, which accounts for approximately 8 percent of the population, is significantly underrepresented in government and professional jobs. Indigenous peoples are also severely underrepresented, although there is a currently a grassroots campaign that aims to gain formal government recognition of the indigenous Charrúa people.

Representation of women in national, regional, and local government is low. Twenty-one percent of people elected to Parliament in 2019 were women, a slight decrease from the number elected in 2014. A gender quota system was implemented for the first time in the 2014 national elections to increase the participation of women as candidates.

The head of government and national legislature determine the policies of the government without undue interference.

The level of corruption in Uruguay is relatively low by regional standards. There were investigations into Frente Amplio politicians during the last few years that resulted in several charges and resignations from positions, including the former Vice President, Raúl Sendic, in 2017.

Government institutions have established a robust record of accountability to the electorate. Enforcement of the Transparency Law, which prohibits a range of offenses related to abuse of office, is relatively strong at the national level.

Constitutional guarantees regarding free expression are generally respected. The press is privately owned; the broadcast sector includes both commercial and public outlets. There are numerous daily and weekly newspapers, some of which are connected to political parties. A study of media in Uruguay released in December 2017 by a coalition of international and local researchers found that ownership of outlets was heavily concentrated among three main media groups.

Despite the relatively open media environment, there have been some reports of intimidation against journalists.

Freedom of religion is legally protected and broadly respected.

Academic freedom is upheld.

Private discussion is generally open and robust. However, the government operates an electronic surveillance system, and the circumstances under which it may be deployed remain opaque.

Freedom of assembly is protected by law, and the government generally respects this right in practice. Protests are frequent.

A wide array of community organizations and national and international human rights groups are active in civic life, and do not face government interference.

Workers are free to exercise the right to join unions, bargain collectively, and hold strikes. Unions are well organized and politically powerful.

Uruguay’s judiciary is generally independent.

The courts in Uruguay remain severely backlogged. However, new criminal procedures have reduced pretrial detention.

Efforts to seek justice for human rights violations committed under the military regime that ended in 1985 have been slow and inconsistent. The government created a special prosecutor’s office to investigate unresolved cases; however, there has not been movement on any cases and victims’ groups are not optimistic. Many have pulled out of collaborating directly with the government’s Working Group on Truth and Justice due to their lack of faith in the proceedings. Human rights investigators have reported receiving death threats. Remains found in a military barrack in August 2019 were identified in October as those of Eduardo Bleier, a well-known desaparecido, or disappeared person, renewing calls for trials to resume.

Uruguay is free from large-scale violence and civil strife. However, prisons are over capacity, and conditions in many facilities are inadequate.

Transgender people have historically been discriminated against in Uruguay. However, in October 2018 lawmakers approved, and the executive promulgated, a law allowing transgender people to change relevant information on their identification documents. The law also allows minors to have gender confirmation hormone therapy without parental or guardian permission, and set aside funds to help ensure that transgender people have access to education and health care, and to provide a pension for transgender people who were persecuted by the country’s 1973–85 military dictatorship. A challenge to the law failed in August 2019, when a pre-referendum failed to muster enough voter participation to hold a full referendum on the issue.

The Afro-Uruguayan minority continues to face economic and social inequalities. A 2013 affirmative action law included incentives to increase their graduation rates and an 8 percent quota in government employment. The law has seen some success in raising the enrollment rate of Afro-Uruguayans, but other mandates have not been fully implemented. The government has initiated additional programs aimed at seeing it realized, and also celebrated the first Afro-descendent month in July 2018, which recognized the cultural contributions of Afro-Uruguayans in the country.

Women enjoy equal rights under the law but face discriminatory attitudes and practices, including a persistent wage gap.

Freedom of movement is protected, and individuals are free to change their residence, employment, and institution of higher education without interference.

The right to own property and establish private business is respected.

Violence against women remains a serious concern, but authorities are making efforts to combat gender-based violence. The Parliament in 2017 voted to make femicide a special circumstance that can increase sentences, and has begun confiscating guns from policemen who have been convicted of domestic violence. However, levels of violence, including gender-based violence, are up overall around the country, which has sparked calls for stronger protections. in December 2019, President Vázquez issued a resolution declaring a national emergency on gender-based violence, which would expand monitoring of convicted offenders, and offer them programs to discourage future such offenses.

The Parliament voted overwhelmingly to legalize same-sex marriage in 2013. Abortion for any reason during the first trimester has been legal since 2012. However, many women, especially in rural areas, lack access to legal abortions. Stigma connected to the procedure continues to impede full access for women.

Individuals generally enjoy equality of opportunity. The monthly minimum wage was increased in July 2019 from 15,000 pesos ($430) to 15,650 ($450), and is expected to increase again to 16,300 pesos ($465) in 2020, which would be the highest monthly minimum wage in Latin America.

According to reports, the government is not doing enough to combat transnational trafficking, and laws do not prohibit internal trafficking.