Medium and long-term factors for the analysis of the 2014 electoral process in Uruguay

This article analyzes the 2014 Uruguayan electoral process, based on the medium and long-term patterns of continuity and change observed in the Uruguayan party system. In the first place, the evolution of the party system in the last 40 years is discussed. This perspective allows to understand the changes and continuities in the distribution of votes among the parties, regarding the 2009 elections. Moreover, it explains which parameters can be associated with the little variations that the October 2014 elections have shown, in comparison to what occurred five years earlier. In the second place, primary party elections are examined in order to analyze the levels of electoral turnout and the difficulties to extrapolate these results to the national election, both between and within parties. Finally, the article explores the institutional factors that determine the characteristics of the legislative supply of the main internal fractions of parties.