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A raging fire in a Superior Court of Electoral Justice in Paraguay left at least one dead and thousands of electronic ballot boxes burned, and raised political tension just over two months before the primary elections, which will define the candidates for the 2023 presidential elections.
Anibal Ortiz, 38, was found dead from severe burns, according to fire officials. The fire broke out in the middle of working hours in the afternoon and forced hundreds of workers to run from their offices.
The incident comes amid a fierce political battle over internal elections between the various factions of the right-wing Colorado Party, which has ruled Paraguay for almost 70 years.
A court minister assured the press that the fire “is premeditated.”
The machines were to be used within two months for the internal ones of all the political parties that participate in the general elections of April 2023.
Some factions of the Colorado Party had been seeking for months to hold the internal elections on different days, something denounced by the opposition as an attempt to manipulate the votes. Just after the fire, the president of the Court, Jaime José Bestard, came out to announce that, that the elections would “split” on two different Sundays, one for the Colorado Party and the other for all the opposition parties.
“Minister Bestard’s reckless declarations place him as the first suspect in the incident,” declared the main opposition candidate, Efraín Alegre, of the conservative Liberal Party.
The fire broke out for unknown reasons and lasted for six hours before it could be controlled, authorities said.
More than 20 cars and 300 firefighters were deployed to fight the flames.
Although its origin is still unknown, the large-scale fire provoked the fury of the opposition front, led by the Liberal Party, which denounced an intentional act.
“I have no doubt, this is sabotage,” his representative, Guillermo Ferreiro, told the media, pointing directly to the president of the court, who belongs to the ruling party.
“The first suspect in this fire is the president of the court, Jaime Bestard,” he exclaimed, while rejecting any attempt to postpone the December elections.
“The electoral process is not in danger,” Bestard defended himself.
Meanwhile, the deputy minister of the court, Jorge Bogarín, announced the formation of a “crisis committee” to investigate the incident.
With information from AFP
