MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Voters in the small South American nation of Uruguay headed to the polls to choose a new president on Sunday in a race between two moderates that defies regional trends of bitter division and democratic erosion.

The contest between Uruguay’s incumbent conservative coalition and its challenger, a center-left alliance, got underway with some 2.7 million eligible voters also casting ballots for Parliament and a contentious referendum on overhauling the social security system.

The pension vote — which would expand the fiscal deficit in one of Latin America’s wealthiest countries — has consumed more media attention in recent weeks than other top campaign issues, such as child poverty, education and security.

With the candidates in broad agreement over many issues, no one expects the outcome of the presidential vote to herald drastic change in this nation of 3.4 million people, long considered a model democracy and bastion of stability in the region.

“In a way, Uruguay has been boring, but boring in this sense is very good,” said Juan Cruz Díaz, a political analyst who runs the Cefeidas consulting group in Buenos Aires. “We’ve seen so many dramatic changes in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, and suddenly we face elections in Uruguay in which there is a general consensus, there’s stability.”

While in neighboring Brazil and Argentina, voters recently vented their rage at the status quo, Uruguay’s electorate remains largely satisfied with the government’s business-friendly policies and the economy’s steady growth. The current center-right president, Luis Lacalle Pou, enjoys a 50% approval rating.

The presidential campaigns have played out without the vitriolic insults and personal attacks seen elsewhere, such as the United States, Argentina or Brazil.

As constitutional term limits prevent Lacalle Pou from running for a second consecutive term, the governing party’s candidate is Álvaro Delgado, 55, a congressman and Lacalle Pou’s former chief of staff, who started his career as a veterinarian.