Associated Press
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay -- A plain-talking former leader of leftist guerrillas who once sought power through kidnappings and bombings is now the president-elect of Uruguay.
Jose Mujica won more than 50 percent of the votes cast in a run-off election Sunday, according to exit polls by the South American country's three leading pollsters, giving the center-left Broad Front coalition five more years in power.
Former President Luis A. Lacalle of the center-right National Party conceded defeat. He trailed with about 45 percent of the votes, exit polls by Cifra, Factum and Equipos Mori said. The Electoral Court was expected to release offical results late Sunday.
Lacalle had sought to portray his rival as a radical who would transform Uruguay into an extremist socialist state, but Mujica campaigned as a consensus builder, saying he would continue the policies of popular President Tabare Vazquez and work to unify Latin Americans after taking office begins March 1.
The Tupamaro guerrillas, co-founded by Mujica, caused so much chaos in the 1960s that Uruguayans initially welcomed a dictatorship that ruled from 1973-85. Mujica spent all that time in prison, enduring torture and solitary confinement, an experience he said cured him of any illusion that armed revolution can achieve lasting social change.
Mujica made a brief, enthusiastic victory speech as a drenching rain poured over thousands of supporters who crowded along the Ramblas, Montevideo's coastal avenue. Aides tried to cover him with umbrellas, but the 74-year-old moved so quickly back and forth along the stage that he quickly got soaked.
"Comrades! This is an inside-out world! You should be up here and us down there, because the people gave us this victory!" Mujica said, thanking Vazquez, each of his rivals, and all his "brothers" across Latin America.
