Former guerrilla fighter Jose 'Pepe' Mujica has won the presidential election in Uruguay.

As the exit polls announced his victory with 51 percent of the vote, Mujica, of the Broad Front coalition, addressed a huge crowd in Montevideo and pledged to follow the economic policies of popular outgoing President Tabare Vazquez.

His win further cements the hold of a leftist government credited with improving economic conditions in one of South America's smallest countries.

His rightist opponent, former president Luis Lacalle, conceded defeat.

Mujica, 74, a co-founder and former member of the leftist Tupamaros movement, has not hidden his admiration for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Some 2.3 million people were eligible to vote in the run-off on Sunday that came after the first round of the election in October in which neither candidate won an absolute majority.

FTP/HGL