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The Government and Political System in Uruguay

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Uruguay is a democratic republic with the executive, legislative and judiciary composing the branches of the government. The president is the executive head and under the constitution is also both state and government head. The president and the vice-president are voted as a tandem because they are from the same party. They are elected into office by popular vote. The cabinet is composed of 13 members directly appointed by the president; they are in charge of the various executive departments. The General Assembly of Uruguay which is composed of two chambers forms the legislative branch. These two chambers are the Chambers of Deputies which has 99 members and Senate which has 31 members but the vice-president is the one who preside over the senate. Both the deputies and senators are elected by proportional representation for a term of five years. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary branch and judges are elected by the General Assembly for a 10-year term. The appellate and lower courts, justices of the peace, electoral and administrative and accounts court formed the rest of the judiciary. The armed forces have also a separate military justice system.

The American Freedom House puts Uruguay in the 27th place in terms of political freedom while the country achieved a score of around 8 on the Democracy index of the Economist Intelligence Unit. According to Transparency International, Uruguay is perceived to be the 25th less corrupt country from a total of 180 in its Corruption Perception Index.