1971 Uruguayan general election

General elections were held in Uruguay on 28 November 1971, alongside a double referendum. The result was a victory for the Colorado Party, which won the presidency and the most seats in the Chamber of Deputies and Senate.

Wilson Ferreira Aldunate of the National Party received the most votes of any individual candidate. However, the combined Colorado vote exceeded the combined National vote by just over 12,000 votes, resulting in Juan Maria Bordaberry being elected president. Under the Ley de Lemas system in effect at the time, the highest-finishing candidate of the party that won the most votes was elected president.

Fifteen months after taking office, Bordaberry carried out a self-coup, closing down the General Assembly and giving the military and police full powers to restore order. This marked the start of a civic-military dictatorship that ruled the country until the next free elections in 1984.

Results

President

Party	Candidates	Votes	%
Colorado Party	Juan María Bordaberry - Jorge Sapelli	379,515	22.8
	Jorge Batlle Ibáñez - Renán Rodríguez	242,804	14.6
	Amílcar Vasconcellos - Manuel Flores Mora	48,844	2.9
	Juan Luis Pintos - Torialli	5,402	0.3
	Juan Pedro Ribas - Gorlero	4,025	0.2
	al lema	604	0.0
	Total	681,624	41.0
National Party	Wilson Ferreira Aldunate - Carlos Julio Pereyra	439,649	26.4
	Mario Aguerrondo - Alberto Héber Usher	228,569	13.7
	al lema	211	0.0
	Total	668,822	40.2
Broad Front	Líber Seregni - Juan José Crottogini	304,275	18.3
Christian Radical Union	Pérez del Castillo - Saralegui	8,844	0.5
Party of Retirees and Pensioners	Vázquez - Rodríguez	288	0.0
Justice Movement	Espínola - Álvarez Varela	241	0.0
Youth Party for Oriental Development	Suárez - Irujo de Grendene	25	0.0
Invalid/blank votes			–
Total		1,664,119	100
Registered voters/turnout		1,878,132
Source: Nohlen

General Assembly

Party	Votes	%	Chamber of Deputies		Senate
			Seats	+/–	Seats	+/–
Colorado Party	681,624	41.0	41	–9	13	–3
National Party	668,822	40.2	40	–1	12	–1
Broad Front	304,275	18.3	18	+16	5	+4
Christian Radical Union	8,844	0.5	0	New	0	New
Party of Retirees and Pensioners	288	0.0	0	–	0	–
Justice Movement	241	0.0	0	–	0	–
Youth Party for Oriental Development	25	0.0	0	–	0	–
Invalid/blank votes	61,930	–	–	–	–	–
Total	1,726,049	100	99	0	30	0
Registered voters/turnout	1,878,132	91.9	–	–	–	–
Source: Nohlen

See also

• Operation Thirty Hours

External links

• "Eleccion_nacional_1971.htm", Uruguayan government Corte Electoral

• Politics Data Bank at the Social Sciences School – Universidad de la República (Uruguay)