Uruguay Colorado Party

The party seeks to unite moderate and liberal groups, although its members have had a diverse set of ideologies since its foundation, including Krausism and liberal conservatism, as well as general pragmatism. It was the dominant party of government almost without exception during the stabilization of the Uruguayan republic.

The Colorado Party has traditionally been an ideologically diverse party, with one study from the 1950s noting that "the liberal ideological position assumed by the Colorado. a half-century ago under the drive of Battle has forced the Blancos or Nationalists to become more relatively conservative in position. On the part of both major parties, however, many inconsistencies and many ideological subdivisions, temporary or permanent, occur. Each of the large parties has its conservatives and its liberals, and party lines are often difficult to hold in congressional debate.”

At the 2004 national elections, the Colorado Party won 10 seats out of 99 in the Chamber of Representatives and 3 seats out of 31 in the Senate. Its presidential candidate, Guillermo Stirling, won 10.4% of the popular vote and placed third, ending the 10-year rule of the Colorado Party and the two-party system.

Earlier history

The Colorado Party was founded in Montevideo, Uruguay, on 17 September 1836.

Some of its significant historical leaders were Fructuoso Rivera, Venancio Flores, José Batlle y Ordóñez, Luis Batlle Berres, Jorge Pacheco Areco, Juan María Bordaberry, Julio María Sanguinetti, Luis Bernardo Pozzolo, and Jorge Batlle.

The party has historically been the most elected party in Uruguayan history with almost uninterrupted dominance during the 20th century. The Colorados were in office from 1865 to 1959, when they were defeated by the Partido Nacional in the 1958 elections. They returned to office after the 1966 elections. They won the first elections at the end of the military dictatorship, in 1984. They went on to win the 1994 and 1999 elections.

Traditional rivals

From its birth until the last decades of the 20th century its traditional rival was the conservative Partido Nacional (also called Partido Blanco).

Post-2004: defeat at polls and rise of Pedro Bordaberry Herrán

The Colorado Party suffered its worst defeat ever in the 2004 national elections, with little over 10 per cent of the popular vote for its presidential candidate Guillermo Stirling, and having only three out of thirty national Senators. There were many reasons for the party's failure, including the economic crisis and old party leaders.

 

Subsequently, to his defeat in 2004, Guillermo Stirling endorsed Pedro Bordaberry Herrán's Vamos Uruguay movement. Bordaberry Herrán became the presidential candidate for the 2009 presidential election, and placed third, with 17 percent of the vote, behind José Mujica and Luis Alberto Lacalle. Bordaberry Herrán placed third again in the 2014 presidential election, with 13% of the vote.

Presidential elections

Election	Party candidate	Running mate	Votes	%	Votes	%	Result
			First Round		Second Round
Elections under the Ley de Lemas system
1938	Alfredo Baldomir	César Charlone	121,259	33.9%	-	-	Elected  Y
	Eduardo Blanco Acevedo	Martínez Thedy	97,998	27.4%	-	-	Lost  N
	Lema		54	0.0%	-	-
	Total votes		219,311	61.4%	-	-
1942	Juan José de Amézaga	Alberto Guani	234,127	40.7%	-	-	Elected  Y
	Eduardo Blanco Acevedo	Carlos Vilaró Rubio	74,767	13.0%	-	-	Lost  N
	Williman	Mermot	670	0.1%	-	-
	Lema		66	0.0%	-	-
	Total votes		309,630	57.2%	-	-
1946	Tomás Berreta	Luis Batlle Berres	185,715	28.6%	-	-	Elected  Y
	Rafael Schiaffino	Daniel Castellanos	83,534	12.9%	-	-	Lost  N
	Alfredo Baldomir	Juan Carlos Mussio Fournier	40,875	6.3%	-	-
	Lema		372	0.0%	-	-
	Total votes		310,496	47.8%	-	-
1950	Andrés Martínez Trueba	Alfeo Brum	161,262	19.6%	-	-	Elected  Y
	César Mayo Gutiérrez	Lorenzo Batlle Pacheco	150,930	18.3%	-	-	Lost  N
	Eduardo Blanco Acevedo	Cyro Giambruno	120,949	14.7%	-	-
	Lema		313	0.0%	-	-
	Total votes		433,454	52.6%	-	-
1966	Óscar Diego Gestido	Jorge Pacheco Areco	262,040	21.3%	-	-	Elected  Y
	Jorge Batlle	Julio Lacarte Muró	215,642	17.5%	-	-	Lost  N
	Amílcar Vasconcellos	Renán Rodríguez	77,476	6.3%	-	-
	Zelmar Michelini	Aquiles Lanza	48,992	4.0%	-	-
	Justino Jiménez de Aréchaga	Nilo Berschesi	4,064	0.0%	-	-
	Lema		389	0.0%	-	-
	Total votes		607,633	49.3%	-	-
1971	Juan María Bordaberry	Jorge Sapelli	379,515	22.8%	-	-	Elected  Y
	Jorge Batlle	Renán Rodríguez	242,804	14.6%	-	-	Lost  N
	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%	-	-
	Lema		604	0.0%	-	-
	Total votes		681,624	41.0%	-	-
1984	Julio María Sanguinetti	Enrique Tarigo	588,143	31.2%	-	-	Elected  Y
	Jorge Pacheco Areco	Carlos Pirán	183,588	9.7%	-	-	Lost  N
	Lema		5,970	0.3%	-	-
	Total votes		777,701	41.2%	-	-
1989	Jorge Batlle	Jorge Sanguinetti	291,944	14.20%	-	-	Lost  N
	Jorge Pacheco Areco	Pablo Millor	289,222	14.06%	-	-
	Hugo Fernández Faingold	Enrique Vispo	14,482	0.70%	-	-
	Lema		1,316	0.06%	-	-
	Total votes		596,964	29.03%	-	-
1994	Julio María Sanguinetti	Hugo Batalla	500,760	24.7%	-	-	Elected  Y
	Jorge Batlle	Federico Bouza	102,551	5.1%	-	-	Lost  N
	Jorge Pacheco Areco	Eduardo Ache	51,935	2.6%	-	-
	Total votes		656,426	32.3%	-	-
Elections under single presidential candidate per party
1999	Jorge Batlle	Luis Antonio Hierro López	703,915	32.8%	1,158,708	54.1%	Elected  Y
2004	Guillermo Stirling	Tabaré Viera	231,036	10.36%	-	-	Lost  N
2009	Pedro Bordaberry	Hugo de León	392,307	17.02%	-	-	Lost  N
2014	Pedro Bordaberry	Germán Coutinho	305,699	12.89%	-	-	Lost  N
2019	Ernesto Talvi	Robert Silva	300,177	12.80%	-	-	Lost  N

Chamber of Deputies and Senate elections

Election	Votes		%	Chamber seats	+/–	Senate seats	+/-	Position	Size
1916	60,420		41.2%	87 / 218	87				2nd
1917	63,617		49.4%	Unknown					1st
1919	Ran as various factions, see 1919 Uruguayan parliamentary election
1922	Ran as various factions, see 1922 Uruguayan parliamentary election
1925	Ran as various factions, see 1925 Uruguayan parliamentary election
1928	Ran as various factions, see 1928 Uruguayan general election
1931	Ran as various factions, see 1931 Uruguayan parliamentary election
1933	Ran as various factions, see 1933 Uruguayan Constitutional Assembly election
1934	139,832		56.1%	55 / 99	5	15 / 30	15		1st
	Senate	125,981	57.0%
1938	219,362		58.4%	64 / 99	9	15 / 30	0		1st
	Senate	219,375	60.6%
1942	328,596		57.1%	58 / 99	6	19 / 30	4		1st
	Senate	328,599	57.2%
1946	310,556		46.3%	47 / 99	11	15 / 30	4		1st
	Senate	310,390	46.3%
1950	433,628		52.3%	53 / 99	6	17 / 30	2		1st
	Senate	433,440	52.9%
1954	444,429		50.6%	51 / 99	2	17 / 31	0		1st
1958	379,062		37.7%	38 / 99	13	12 / 31	5		2nd
1962	521,231		44.5%	44 / 99	6	14 / 31	2		2nd
1966	607,633		49.3%	50 / 99	6	16 / 30	2		2nd
1971	681,624		41.0%	41 / 99	9	13 / 30	3		1st
1984	777,701		41.2%	41 / 99	0	13 / 30	0		1st
1989	596,964		29.03%	30 / 99	11	9 / 30	4		2nd
1994	656,426		32.3%	32 / 99	2	11 / 31	2		1st
1999	703,915		32.8%	33 / 99	1	10 / 30	1	Coalition (PC–PN)	2nd
2004	231,036		10.36%	10 / 99	23	3 / 30	7	Opposition	3rd
2009	392,307		17.02%	17 / 99	7	5 / 30	2	Opposition	3rd
2014	305,699		12.89%	13 / 99	4	4 / 30	2	Opposition	3rd
2019	300,177		12.80%	13 / 99	0	4 / 30	0	Coalition (PN–PC–CA–PG–PI)	3rd

National Council of Administration and National Council of Government elections

Election	Votes	%	Council seats	+/-	Position
1925	Ran as various factions, see 1925 Uruguayan parliamentary election
1926	Ran as various factions, see 1926 Uruguayan general election
1928	Ran as various factions, see 1928 Uruguayan general election
1930	165,069	52.1%	Unknown		1st
1932	107,664	67.0%	Unknown		1st
Abolished in 1933, reestablished as National Council of Government
1954	444,429	50.6%	6 / 9	6	1st
1958	379,062	37.7%	3 / 9	3	2nd
1962	545,029	521,231	3 / 9		2nd
National Council abolished in 1966, presidential system reestablished

• Colorado Party (Paraguay)
• National Party (Uruguay)
• Liberalism worldwide
• List of liberal parties
• Liberalism in Uruguay
• Fructuoso Rivera
• José Batllé y Ordóñez
• Jorge Batlle
• Pedro Bordaberry