Uruguay is heading for a tight presidential election run-off next month after a first round on Sunday saw a center-left candidate come top ahead of two candidates who split the conservative vote.

The leading contenders in Uruguay's presidential election on Sunday said voters in the small South American nation had sent the race to a runoff in November.

Early exit polls after Uruguay's presidential election on Sunday suggest the center-left opposition candidate Yamandu Orsi was ahead of his conservative rival, Alvaro Delgado, with a second round likely needed in November for a head-to-head photo finish.

Uruguay’s presidential election will likely go to a runoff next month after neither candidate reached the absolute majority needed to win, while a contentious overhaul of the country’s pension system failed to pass.

Voters in the small South American nation of Uruguay cast ballots Sunday in a presidential election in which a center-left rural mayor pulled ahead of the conservative incumbent-party candidate and pushed the race into a second round of voting.

By Lucinda Elliott MONTEVIDEO/TREINTA Y TRES (Reuters) -Voters in Uruguay, known for its beaches, legalized marijuana and stability, went to the polls on Sunday in an election race between moderates that contrasted with the polarized politics in many other Latin American countries.

National Party