Uruguay ousted its conservative government that had been in charge for the past five years, as leftist opposition candidate Yamandú Orsi claimed victory in a tight presidential runoff Sunday.

Even as the vote count continued, Álvaro Delgado, the presidential candidate of the center-right ruling coalition, conceded defeat to his challenger.

"With sadness, but without guilt, we can congratulate the winner," he told supporters at his campaign headquarters in the capital of Montevideo. 

Orsi, 57, a working-class former history teacher and two-time mayor from Uruguay's Broad Front coalition, was mentored by former President José "Pepe" Mujica, an ex-Marxist guerilla who became world renowned for driving Uruguay’s legalization of abortion, same-sex marriage and sale of marijuana a decade ago. Orsi thanked his supporters as crowds flocked to greet him.

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"The country of liberty, equality and fraternity has triumphed once again," he said, vowing to unite the nation of 3.4 million people after such a tight vote.

"Let's understand that there is another part of our country who have different feelings today," he said. "These people will also have to help build a better country. We need them too."

"I will be the president who calls for national dialogue again and again, who builds a more integrated society and country," Orsi said.

"Starting tomorrow, I'll have to work very hard, there's a lot to do," he told the Associated Press from the glass-walled NH Columbia hotel, thronged friends and colleagues embracing and congratulating him.

With nearly all the votes counted, electoral officials reported that Orsi won just over 49% of the vote, ahead of Delgado’s 46%. The rest cast blank votes or abstained in defiance of Uruguay's enforced compulsory voting. Turnout reached almost 90%.

After weeks in which the rivals appeared tied in the polls, Delgado's concession ushers in Orsi as Uruguay’s new leader and cuts short the center-right Republican coalition's shot at governing. 

The 2019 election of President Luis Lacalle Pou spelled an end to 15 consecutive years of rule by the Broad Front.

"I called Yamandú Orsi to congratulate him as President-elect of our country," Lacalle Pou wrote on social media platform X, adding that he would "put myself at his service and begin the transition as soon as I deem it appropriate."

Orsi's victory made the South American country the latest to rebuke the incumbent party in the wake of post-pandemic economic malaise.

The win contrasts with that of populist Javier Milei, who won the presidency in Argentina in 2023 by promising to overhaul the establishment to deal with soaring inflation and poverty. Milei reportedly has grown close to President-elect Trump. 

Orsi has been described as a moderate with no radical plans for change. He largely agrees with his opponent on key voter concerns like driving down the childhood poverty rate, now at a staggering 25%, and containing an upsurge in organized crime that has shaken the nation long considered among Latin America's safest. 

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Despite Orsi's promise to lead a "new left" in Uruguay, his platform resembles the mix of market-friendly policies and welfare programs that characterized the Broad Front’s tenure from 2005-2020.

Mujica, now 89 and recovering from esophageal cancer, turned up at his local polling station before balloting even began on Sunday to praise Orsi’s humility and Uruguay’s proud stability.

"This is no small feat," he said of his nation's "citizenry that respects formal institutions."

With inflation easing, and the economy expected to expand by some 3.2% this year, Delgado had promised to continue pursuing his predecessor’s pro-business policies. 

Lacalle Pou, who constitutionally cannot run for a second consecutive term, has enjoyed high approval ratings. But the official results trickling in on Sunday showed that mounting complaints in Uruguay about years of sluggish economic growth, stagnant wages and the government’s struggle to contain crime after five years helped swing the election against Delgado.

Specific proposals by Orsi include tax incentives to lure investment and revitalize the critical agricultural sector, as well as social security reforms that would lower the retirement age but fall short of a radical overhaul sought by Uruguay’s unions that failed to pass in the Oct. 27 general election during which neither front-runner secured an outright majority. 

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He is also likely to put an end to a trade agreement with China that Lacalle Pou had pursued to the chagrin of Mercosur, an alliance of South American nations promoting regional commerce.

His government will take office on March 1, 2025.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.