2023-04-30 23:42:22
The long lines to vote surprised locals and strangers.
The candidate of the ruling Colorado Party, Santiago Peña, is the new president of Paraguay after leading his rival from an opposition coalition, Efraín Alegre, in the official vote count.
Peña, a 44-year-old economist, had 44.72% of the votes, counted close to 60% of the 12,259 tables throughout the country against 27.88% of his opponent from the Concertación for a New Paraguay.
If the trend continues, the conservative Colorado Party will extend its political hegemony for another five years. Peña, in turn, would establish himself as the youngest president since the return of democracy in 1989.
“The result is irreversible,” officialdom spokesman Wildo Almirón told a news conference.
Neither the opposition candidate nor the electoral authority ruled on the provisional results.
With high turnout within a register of 4.7 million people, according to the electoral authorities, the day was marked by long lines of voters in schools in Asunción and the interior that generated delays of up to more than two hours, a rare image for a country with high absenteeism in each election despite the fact that voting is compulsory.
The Superior Court of Electoral Justice, in charge of the process, did not disclose the percentage of participation, but announced that it will be necessary to wait “three or four more hours” to know the final official results because there are still long lines of voters within the schools, explained the agency’s IT director, Fausto von Streber.
Paraguay, a landlocked country, in which a stable economy coexists with high levels of poverty and corruption, thus leaned towards the continuity of the longest-serving ruling party in South America, in a one-round election that has taken an unexpected turn. relevance to the interests of the United States, China and Taiwan in Latin America.
???????? #Paraguay | Foro Madrid congratulates the president-elect Santiago Peña @SantiPenap for his resounding and irrefutable victory in today’s elections.
✅ Paraguay is ratified as a bastion of Freedom and Democracy in the face of pressure from governments in the hands of the Forum of São… pic.twitter.com/cf5qm8AkSd
– Forum Madrid (@Foro_MAD) April 30, 2023
The winner will succeed the current president Mario Abdo Benítez for the period 2023-2028.
The conservative Colorado Party has ruled since 1947, including as the political support of dictator Alfredo Stroessner (1954-1989), with the exception of a brief period of progressive tinge led by ex-bishop Fernando Lugo in 2008 and ended early in 2012 with an impeachment trial. .
Peña was sponsored by former president and magnate Horacio Cartes (2013-2018), the strongman of Paraguayan politics who was recently declared a “significantly corrupt person” by the United States.
“We have prepared ourselves to win, we are convinced that we are the best option,” said Peña, a former finance minister, after casting his vote.
In a message read earlier, the postulant candidate had stated that “we choose a Paraguay that plans its future to take the great leap we need or a country that navigates improvisation.”
The main challenge to the hegemony of the Colorado Party appears the Agreement for a New Paraguay with the candidate Alegre, 60 years old and leader of the traditional Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA) and staunch opponent of Cartes.
“Our adversary is not the Colorado Party but the dirty money of organized crime,” said Alegre at the beginning of the day.
Other charges
In addition to the president and vice president, who will take office on August 15, 45 seats in the Senate and 80 in Deputies are also at stake, which will make up the future Congress and will be key to guaranteeing the stability or not of the future government. In addition, 17 governors are elected.
Despite the fact that the system is electronic, there were delays due to the difficulties of many people, especially the elderly, to operate the machines.
When requesting assistance, discussions were generated between party representatives and electoral authorities because it is not allowed to vote accompanied, except for physical disabilities.
Local media also reported incidents in some Asunción schools between supporters of both forces over the placement of the ballot boxes. The skirmishes did not escalate due to the intervention of the police, except for the curious case of a militant who bit another’s ear, local media reported.
An hour after the closing of the vote, the long lines were maintained in many schools, especially in and around the capital. The electoral authority clarified that although the establishments were closed, the people inside them will be able to vote.
“The police stand behind the last (voter) in line. After I vote, the table closes and the scrutiny is done, ”explained the electoral judge Fabiana Marín. “Suddenly if people come to join, that is the limit”,
The massive turnout of voters surprised the Paraguayans themselves.
Paraguay: Against the forecasts of a close election and a “technical tie”, the Colorado Party (right) prevails widely in the presidential elections. The new president will be Santi Peña. pic.twitter.com/33NGVyoJYr
– José María Del Pino (@josemdelpino) April 30, 2023
Generally, we Paraguayans prefer to stay in our homes and watch TV. But surprisingly and at such an early hour there are a lot of people, obviously there is expectation,” said Jorgelina Bogarín, 55, after voting at a school in downtown Asunción.
The woman explained that this massive turnout of voters caught her attention “because continuity is in the supposed change like the one we are already in (by the Colorado government). It is the same, the same model whatever the color. The same corrupt structure, are the same people”.
Her husband José Bogarin, 75, said that he voted for the ruling party because “I prefer the one that is at the moment to a new one. He is the least bad ”.
The massive turnout of voters contrasted with a generally apathetic and colorless campaign, in which there were no large mobilizations or mass events, which many analysts attributed to the difficulties of the ruling party to finance the campaign for economic sanctions against Cartes, the current president. of the Colorado party.
The disinterest of the majority of citizens in the electoral process was also marked, which was especially palpable among young people.
According to the accusation of the US Department of State, the ex-president engaged in “acts of corruption before, during and after his term.”
He also denounced that he collected bribes from Hezbollah, considered by the United States a terrorist organization. The tobacco businessman, who also owns banks, the media and gas stations, among other businesses, denies the charges. The agency froze his assets and prevented him from operating in its financial system.
When Peña was asked if he would agree to extradite his political godfather, he replied that “it is a judicial process, not from the Executive. As president I will make justice work.”
The opposition sought to capture the vote of young people between the ages of 18 and 30, a segment where the highest levels of absenteeism are recorded.
“I’m not interested in politics,” Ana Benítez, an 18-year-old kinesiology student who is voting for the first time, told the AP. “But I support a change. In my house they are opponents of the government”.
Although Paraguay boasts a relatively stable economy, it has structural problems that were out of the question during the campaign: labor informality that affects 7 out of 10 workers; poverty of 24.7%, tax evasion and drug trafficking, among others.
In a discreet electoral campaign in proposals, one of the points of greatest controversy between the candidates has been the alliance with Taiwan, an issue in which geopolitics are intertwined with the interests of Paraguayan soybean producers and ranchers who want to sell to China.
Congratulations @SantiPenap for the big win!
We just had a very pleasant conversation and great projects are coming that will benefit Paraguay and South America, and indisputably the joint candidacy for the 2030 Centenary World Cup ????⚽️
Let’s Keep Believing Big!
— Alejandro Dominguez (@agdws) April 30, 2023
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