The election has turned into a race between the incumbent party's candidate and the Broad Front, a coalition of leftist and center-left parties.

By Lucinda Elliott MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) -Voters in South America's laid-back Uruguay, known for its beaches, legalized marijuana and stability, headed to the polls on Sunday for a second-round presidential race between moderates that closes out a bumper year for global elections.

Uruguay is on the cusp of becoming the latest country to oust an incumbent party this year, with violent crime and an economic recovery that has left many behind bolstering the hopes of the leftist opposition candidate in Sunday’s presidential election.

Uruguayans will return to the polls on Sunday for a second round of voting to choose their next president, with the conservative governing party and the left-leaning coalition locked in a close run-off after failing to win an outright majority in last month’s vote.

Uruguayan Alvaro Delgado, a 55-year-old former senator and the conservative ruling coalition's continuity candidate for president, is counting on support from an eliminated ally to triumph against the center-left frontrunner in Sunday's run-off election.