Yearbook 2008
Uruguay. As has already happened in most Latin American
countries, attempts were also made in Uruguay to change the
constitution so that the incumbent president can be
re-elected. According to
Countryaah reports, President Tabaré Vázquez had previously opposed
a constitutional change in that direction. But after some of
his supporters started a campaign to get 250,000 voter
signatures in support of such a change, he declared himself
ready to reconsider his decision on the required signatures,
corresponding to 10 percent of the electorate, could be
shown. The government reform that the President undertook
somewhat later was considered his way of stifling
competition within the government coalition Frente Amplio
(FA) to become his successor.
Vázquez's decision to exercise his right to veto a bill
on free abortion, which the Senate approved in early
November, however, made him suddenly unpopular and in early
December resigned as leader of the Socialist Party.
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