MONTEVIDEO, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Uruguay's President-elect Luis Lacalle Pou on Saturday called for "national unity," saying that during his presidency beginning March 1, he will not seek "to change one half of the country for another."
In the first speech after his confirmed narrow win in the presidential runoff on Nov. 24, Lacalle Pou said that the five political parties making up his "multicolor" coalition understood the "popular cry" for a different way to run the country.
Lacalle Pou, a candidate from the National Party, created a coalition with four other center-right parties for the second round presidential election.
In front of thousands of supporters gathered in Pocitos, Montevideo, Lacalle Pou thanked citizens who had respectfully awaited this week's results, and requested that the peaceful coexistence be maintained with supporters of the Broad Front, the party who lost the election after ruling the country since 2005.
"We don't interpret politics from hate and fear, we don't interpret it from affronts and insults," said Lacalle Pou, the 46-year-old son of former President Luis Alberto Lacalle, also from the National Party.
"We are men of peace, of union, and this is the message that we have to give to all of Uruguay. This process, that will begin on March 1, cannot change one half of the country for another; we have to unite society," he said.
Lacalle Pou promised "a just government with social sensitivity," stressing that "the most vulnerable, the poorest must be helped."
According to the last ballot count officially released on Saturday by the Electoral Court, Lacalle Pou won the second round of presidential election with 48.8 percent of the vote compared to the 47.3 percent for ruling Broad Front candidate Daniel Martinez.
