Movement of Popular Participation

History

From 1985 onwards, after the end of the military dictatorship and the amnesty that freed those Tupamaros imprisoned during the regime, there was debate among different factions within the Tupamaros about whether or not to participate in the legal political system. In the end, those who favored the democratic ways prevailed.

In 1989, the Tupamaros were admitted within the ranks of the Broad Front and, together with other groups of the radical left such as the People's Victory Party (PVP), the Oriental Revolutionary Movement (MRO) and the Socialist Workers' Party, they created the Movement of Popular Participation (MPP). However, the Tupamaros within the MPP declined to participate in the elections. As a result of the legislative elections of 1989, the MPP won two seats in the Chamber of Deputies: Helios Sarthou (a Union lawyer) and Hugo Cores (PVP).

It has since become the largest faction within the Broad Front, the leftist coalition which won the elections in 2004 and took power in March 2005. Its main leader was José Mujica.

In 1992, the MRO decided to leave the MPP (and soon afterwards, the Broad Front) due to political differences with the direction the MPP was taking, stating that "it was growing apart from the ideas of Raúl Sendic regarding the foreign debt, the nationalization of banks and external trade".

In the elections of 1994 former guerrilla members participated in Uruguayan elections for the first time as candidates for Parliament. The MPP gained in votes, thus obtaining two seats in the Chamber of Deputies (José Mujica and Eleuterio Fernández Huidobro) and one in the Senate (Sarthou).

The Fourth Congress of the MPP was held between late 1998 and early 1999. The leadership of the MLN-T, headed by Eleuterio Fernández Huidobro, José Mujica and Eduardo Bonomi, managed to impose within the MPP a strategy of programmatic moderation and support for Vázquez's leadership that had been outlined at the beginning of 1995. Sarthou and Zabalza, emblematic figures of the early years of the MPP, left the MPP.

Towards 1999, Mujica had become a major political phenomenon, due in part to his blunt style and his clarity. In the elections of that year, Mujica ran for the Senate and the turnout for the MPP was increased, giving the party two seats in the upper chamber. The growth in popularity continued so that in 2004 the MPP got six seats in the Senate, and contributed to the victory of presidential candidate Tabaré Vázquez who then became the first left-wing president of the country. During the Vázquez administration, several members of the MPP held key positions. Mujica was Minister of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Eduardo Bonomi was Minister of Labor.

Since 2007 new trends within the MPP have led to the creation of the CAP-L, led by Huidobro. In the primary elections of 2009, the MPP reasserted its supremacy as the most important faction in the Broad Front. Mujica quit the MPP after the primary elections so that he would not be tied to any particular group within the Broad Front. He subsequently won the elections in the same year in November.

Election results

Presidential elections

References

References

1. Gotta, Ricardo. (2024-11-03). "El MPP del Pepe es el que más tracciona para que el Frente Amplio vuelva a ser gobierno".
2. Handlin, Samuel. (2014). "The Politics of Polarization: Governance and Party System Change in Latin America, 1990-2010". SSRN Electronic Journal.
3. Gregory, Stephen. (2009). "Intellectuals and Left Politics in Uruguay, 1958-2006". Sussex Academic Press.
4. Barry, Rachel Ann. (6 December 2021). "Understanding marihuana policy change in Uruguay: towards policy coherence?". [[University of Edinburgh]].
5. Novarese, Carina. (2019). "BTI 2010 — Uruguay Country Report". [[Bertelsmann Stiftung]].
6. Adolfo Garcé. (2006). "Donde hubo fuego". Editorial Fin de Siglo.
7. "Porque Helios Sarthou". América Latina en movimiento.
8. "COMUNA » Los candidatos de ComUnA".
9. (2020-12-07). "Tabaré Vázquez, Uruguay’s first socialist president, dies at 80". The Washington Post.
10. "FACTUM - Análisis Político".