Uruguayan former president Luis Alberto Lacalle votes at a polling station for the presidential election in Montevideo, capital of Uruguay, on Oct. 25, 2009. A total of 2.5 million voters went to polling stations across the country to vote for the president. (Xinhua/Nicolas Celaya) Photo Gallery>>>

    MONTEVIDEO, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Exit polls suggested that Uruguayan ruling party candidate Jose Mujica narrowly missed the chance to win the nation's presidency in the first round of elections on Sunday.

    Uruguay's top two pollsters, Cifra and Factum, showed Mujica, the favorite candidate, pocketed between 47 and 49 percent of the votes.

    Luis Eduardo Gonzalez, director of polling firm Cifra, said that the ruling Broad Front party performed similarly to 2004, when the current President Tabare Vazquez took office with 50.4 percent of the votes.

    Gonzalez also said the most likely result was that Mujica would have to fight a second round with opposition National Party candidate Luis Alberto Lacalle, who was president from 1990 to 1995. According to Cifra's survey, Lacalle has secured 34 percent of the votes.

    According to Uruguayan Constitution, candidates must win at least 50 percent in the first round to avoid a one-on-one run-off, provisionally scheduled for Nov. 29.

Uruguay ruling party candidate Jose Mujica walks into a casting station to cast his vote during a Uruguayan National elections in Montevideo October 25, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Mujica, 74, was one of the leaders of the Tupamaros urban guerrilla movement in the 1960s and 1970s.

    The controversial past of Mujica has pushed away some voters, but he received more backup from others with his pledge to continue the economic policies of Vazquez that have attracted foreign investment in dairy industry and forestry, decreased unemployment rate and enhanced minority rights.

    During the five-year term of Vazquez, Uruguay's economy has grown steadily. Despite the global economic downturn, Uruguay has witnessed slight economic growth this year, as its banking system remains solid and prices for some farm exports have begun to recover.

    The government has expected this year's growth rate to reach of0.7 percent and the unemployment rate decreased to 6.9 percent in July, the third consecutive monthly drop, Economy Minister Alvaro Garcia said in September

    To strengthen relationship with the commercial circle, Mujica picked Vazquez's former economy minister Danilo Astori as his vice-presidential running mate.

    Astori has been praised for his guidance of the largely agricultural-based economy.

    For his part, Lacalle, the 68-year-old former president, vowed to remove the income tax imposed by the incumbent government and reduce bureaucracy in the small country sandwiched by Argentina and Brazil.

    During his rule, Lacalle encouraged a free market program and co-founded the Mercosur trade bloc, along with the presidents of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina, in 1991.

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