Yamandú Orsi, a center-left former mayor, finished first on Sunday but fell short of the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid another round of voting.

Uruguay’s presidential election will go to a runoff next month after neither candidate reached the absolute majority needed to win, while a contentious overhaul of the country’s pension system failed to pass.

Early exit polls after Uruguay's presidential election on Sunday suggest the center-left opposition candidate Yamandu Orsi was ahead of his conservative rival, Alvaro Delgado, with a second round likely needed in November for a head-to-head photo finish.