Paraguay will elect its next president on April 30 and the polls point to two clear favorites: Efraín Alegre, the candidate of the National Concertation for a New Paraguay, and Santiago Peña, of the Colorado Party. In that country described as an economic example but suffering from a lack of public services, it is not yet known who will win the fight.
Next Sunday, April 30, in the presidential and legislative elections, the conservative Colorado Party could lose its hegemony of the last 15 years.
two profiles
The Colorado candidate Santiago Peña, economist and former Minister of Finance of former President Horacio Cartes, faces Efraín Alegre, also a former Minister, but of Public Works of the only alternative government to the Colorado Party that has existed in Paraguay in more than 70 years, that of Fernando Lugo between 2008 and 2013.
Also read: “The Concertación means democratic consciousness,” says Efraín Alegre
Santiago Peña is 44 years old, has a more technical profile and was the youngest Finance Minister in Paraguay; while Alegre, 60, is running for the third time and leads an alliance of conservative parties like his, the historic Liberal Radical Auténtico and other smaller progressives, in the so-called National Concertation.
inequalities
Paraguay is often described as a paradise for foreign investment. A country that international organizations and some media consider an economic example due to its sustained growth of 4% per year, its low taxes and its inflation adjusted to 5%.
Also read: Elections in Paraguay: Why is the youth vote a mystery?
But those same analyzes tend to forget to mention that Paraguay has almost no public health or education services, and that there is enormous inequality between the 10% of the population that has everything, and all the rest, who live from day to day, with no hope of retirement or unemployment insurance.
Alegre proposes to end the mafia and govern for all, Peña makes proposals to his electorate: only by voting for the Colorado Party will you get a job. And meanwhile, the polls give them a technical tie. We will know the results on Sunday.
