This paper presents results from a case study of the 2019 and 2024 Uruguayan elections which seeks to analyse how the interaction between institutional and contextual factors shapes the politicisation of feminist and LGBT+ issues in electoral contexts. In empirical terms, the study uses critical discourse analysis to examine the principal themes, constructs and rhetorical tropes used to express ideological positions regarding feminist and LGBT+ issues in party electoral platforms and election discourses by key party candidates from both right and left-wing parties that competed in the 2024 national elections. The paper then frames this discursive focus within an analysis of how long-term institutional factors, which derive from a particularly stable party system, interact with conjunctural changes in the party political environment, related to the rise of a neo-conservative right-wing, in the politicisation of such issues as part of electoral competition. While the Uruguayan left-wing coalition has historically been more favourable to the inclusion of such issues in their party agenda, it was the negative anti-gender rhetoric of the neo-conservatives that gave them greater centrality in these election campaigns than had been the case in previous elections. At the same time, the fact that the traditional Uruguayan right-wing parties, which have historically included more liberal feminist demands in their platforms were dependent on forming a coalition with neo-conservative anti-gender forces in order to win the 2019 elections, meant that this coalition’s discourse on feminist and LGBT+ issues presents little internal coherence.
