Montevideo, October 30 (RHC-PL) -- Uruguayan political parties began a period of strategic reflection with a view to a second electoral round on November 30th, far from pollsters' predictions.
The pollsters that had been influencing the electoral campaign for months were not right in their final predictions and only one recognized publicly its failure in predicting the electoral results.
Ignacio Zuasnabar, director of Equipos Mori, admitted "a difference between predictions and the real results" and said no company had predicted that the ruling Broad Front (FA) would win the parliamentarian majority and now, it would probably win it.
All pollsters predicted the number of votes won by the PN (National Party) and the PC (Colorado Party) over the FA results and the situation resulted in exactly the opposite, said Zuasnabar, who partly attributed the distortion to new technologies.
After the results (still unofficial) of the elections last Sunday, easily favorable to the governing FA, the leadership of that political group analyzed the steps to be taken in the next 33 days.
According to the president of that political force, Monica Xavier, the quick-count mechanism used by her party rendered a more precise result than the the pollsters' results.
We have to appraise, out of the electoral context, how the pollsters have been working. I do not say they do it intentionally, but as they are influential, undoubtedly shape opinions, she asserted.
Tabaré Vázquez, with almost 48 percent of the votes and a possible majority in both parliamentary chambers, is the clear favorite against Luis Lacalle Pou (30.5%), of the opposition National Party and its now ally, the Colorado Party, led by Pedro Bordaberry (12.7%).