Uruguay's leftist candidate Tabare Vazquez won a historic victory in Sunday's presidential elections with more than 50 percent of the ballot. He will become the South American country's first leftist president.

Vazquez declared himself the victor as exit polls showed a 50.9to 53 percent for him, more than the 50 percent plus one vote needed to win in the first-round and avoid a runoff. Final resultswill be announced on Monday.

The 64-year-old Vazquez's win marks a political shift in the traditional US ally.

The latest was the third presidential bid for Vazquez, a Socialist physician who leads the Broad Front coalition comprisingSocialists, Communists and former Tupamaro guerrillas. Vazquez hadsaid that he will leave politics if he does not win this time.

Vazquez, son of a worker in a state-run fuel company, was born in Barrio La Teja, Montevideo, on Jan. 17, 1940. He served as Uruguay's first leftist mayor of Montevideo from 1990 and 1994.

The 64-year-old cancer specialist has said that even if he becomes president, he will continue with his medical practice, at least for some hours a week.

"If politics forces me to cease my contact with people, then I will leave politics," he said on several occasions.

Vazquez is married with three sons.