Uruguay’s leftist opposition candidate, Yamandú Orsi, became the country's new president in a tight runoff election that ousted the conservative governing coalition.

The candidate of the conservative coalition that has governed for the past five years conceded defeat after a tight runoff, as Uruguay joined others around the world in rebuking the incumbent party in a year of landmark elections.

By Lucinda Elliott MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) -Exit polls in Uruguay suggested that center-left candidate Yamandu Orsi was leading the second runoff of the presidential vote in the laid-back South American nation on Sunday night,