INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT AND GOVERNABILITY

The Mechanisms of Presidential Stability in Uruguay (1985–2024)

Abstract

The article examines the causes of high presidential stability in Uruguay from 1985, the year of its redemocratization, until 2024, focusing on mechanisms such as Multiple Simultaneous Vote, Joint Vote, and the constitutional provision granting the country's vice-president the presidency of the Senate. The methodology employed was qualitative, using process-tracing and semi-structured interviews with Uruguayan academics and authorities, conducted in loco in Montevideo, Uruguay, allowing for the tracking of causal processes and their corroboration through interviews. The study was divided into three sections: methodological foundation, literature review and analysis of the interviews. The results demonstrate that the Uruguayan institutional arrangement plays a decisive role in the continuity of presidents, highlighting the stabilizing effects of the Multiple Simultaneous Vote, the Joint Vote, and the role played by the vice-president in the Senate, creating a stabilizing chain that primarily strengthens political parties. The research contributes to filling a substantive gap in the literature by seeking to identify the causes of Uruguayan presidential stability, offering possibilities for reflections on the relevance of strong institutions in a global context of increasing depoliticization and threats to democratic regimes.