Protest in Asunción, Paraguay, for alleged electoral fraud

( Spanish) — The National Police of Paraguay informed this Tuesday through its official account on Twitter that arrested 19 people in the protests carried out in the surroundings of the Superior Court of Electoral Justice, in which they alleged an alleged electoral fraud in the elections on Sunday, in which Santiago Peña was the winner as president-elect of the country.

The police added that a patrol from the Special Operations Group was burned and three policemen were injured with a blunt weapon. The police authorities added that it is estimated that there are at least 2,000 people facing police personnel in the area.

The protests take place after former Paraguayan presidential candidate Antonio Cubas Colomés, known as Payo Cubas, denounced an alleged fraud on Monday through his Facebook profile.

Cubas, who came in third place in the elections held on April 30 in Paraguay, denounced this Monday an alleged electoral fraud, which unleashed mobilizations of supporters of his movement in different parts of Paraguay and around the Superior Court of Electoral Justice (TSJE), based in Asunción.

Former presidential candidates Ephraim Alegre and Euclides Acevedothrough their Twitter accounts they also demonstrated asking the TSJE to carry out a manual count and a computer audit.

Before the numerous complaints filed in relation to yesterday’s elections, we demand that the TSJE: [HILO]

1. That IMMEDIATELY carry out the manual count of 10% of the polling stations chosen at random in each polling station throughout the country.

— Efrain Alegre (@EfrainAlegre) May 2, 2023

There are numerous complaints and inconsistencies in the results projected by the TSJE.

Therefore, we immediately request and demand the following:

1. The Computer Audit of 10% of the Electronic Ballot Boxes, with the presence of an international consultant…

– Euclides Acevedo (@euclides2023) May 2, 2023

So far, Santiago Peña has not reacted on said allegations of fraud made by Cubas.

The Minister of the Interior of Paraguay, Federico González, responded to that “the process is totally transparent and the acts are being judged at this moment. The procedure is not over yet. Yesterday the electronic results were advanced and now the judgment is being made.

González added that in the presence of protesters outside the TSJE offices that the security scheme has been implemented since two days before the elections and will continue until necessary.

The National Police of Paraguay informed through its Twitter account that: “guarantees are being given to the process carried out by the Superior Court of Electoral Justice; in order to provide security and peace of mind both to its authorities and to the public.”

The OAS Electoral Observation Mission in Paraguay reported through his Twitter account, which calls for all complaints and disagreements about the electoral process to be processed through institutional channels in accordance with the law and peacefully.

So far, the Paraguayan authorities have not reported that a written complaint has been filed by the former presidential candidates about an alleged fraud.