At Stake in this Referendum

Uruguay will hold a referendum on the Urgent Consideration Law (LUC) on March 27, 2022. The Urgent Consideration Law was enacted by President Luis LACALLE POU in 2020. The LUC encompasses 476 legal changes promised during his campaign into one bill that was marked for ‘urgent consideration’ under Uruguayan law. This referendum will decide whether this bill should be repealed. [1]

The Uruguayan public will be presented with the following question [2]:

• Should the Law No. 19.889 be repealed?

Voters may respond by answering “YES” or “NO”.

Government Structure [3]:

• Chief of State*: President Luis Alberto LACALLE POU (since 1 March 2020), along with Vice President Beatriz ARGIMON Cedeira (since 1 March 2020).
• Assembly: The bicameral General Assembly (Asamblea General) that consists of the 30-seat Chamber of Senators (Camara de Senadores) and the 99-seat Chamber of Representatives (Camara de Representantes).

*Note: the President is both the Chief of State and Head of Government.

Electoral System [4]:

• The President and Vice President are directly elected on the same ballot by absolute majority vote in 2 rounds if necessary for a 5-year term and are eligible for non-consecutive terms.
• Members of the Chamber of Senators are directly elected in a single nationwide constituency by proportional representation vote. Members of the Chamber of Representatives are directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by party-list proportional representation vote using the D’Hondt method. Members of both chambers serve 5-year terms.

Last Election: [5]

• The last referendum was held on October 27^th, 2019. Four amendments to the constitution were voted on.

Population and Registered Voters:

• Population: 3,407,213 (2022 est.) [6]
• Registered voters: 2,699,978 (2019 est.) [7]

Gender Data:

• Female Population: Not available
• Is Uruguay a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (signed 30 March 1981) [8]
• Has Uruguay ratified CEDAW:  Yes (ratified 9 October 1981) [9]
• Gender Quota: Yes, Uruguay has both legislated and voluntary quotas. The legislated quotas apply to the upper house, lower house, as well as local level. The specific requirements for these quotas vary by level, but generally require that 25-35% of candidates be women. [10]
• Female candidates in this election: N/A
• Number of Female Legislators: 25 out of 99 [11]
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 0.817 (ranked 55) [12]
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Low (22%) [13]

Disability Data:

• Is Uruguay a signatory to CRPD: Yes (signed 3 April 2007) [14]
• Has Uruguay ratified CRPD: Yes (ratified on 11 February 2009) [15]
• Population with a disability: 3,341,893 (2022 est.) [16]