The official Santiago Peña obtains the presidency of Paraguay with 43% of the votes, against the opposition Efraín Alegre, who has approximately 27.5% of the ballots with his name. Peña leads the Colorado Party once again to power in this South American country.
According to the count carried out by the electoral authorities of the country, with more than 90% of the votes counted, the pro-government Santiago Peña, from the Colorado Party, is the next president of Paraguay. His candidacy gathered more than a million votes, 43.15% of the ballots.
For his part, the leader of the opposition alliance Concertación Nacional, Efraín Alegre, was unable to overcome the difference of more than fifteen percentage points that separated him from the winner since the counting began. Currently, he has 27.5% of the votes.
The conservative populist Payo Cubas, from the National Crusade, who sought to surprise in these elections, obtained 22.5% of the ballots.
Paraguay is one of the few countries that does not require a second round in its presidential elections.
The current president, the conservative Mario Abdo Benítez, already congratulated Peña on Twitter: “Congratulations to the Paraguayan people for their great participation in this election day and to the president-elect Santiago Peña. We will work to start an orderly and transparent transition that strengthens our institutions and the country’s democracy”.
The voting day lasted from seven in the morning to four in the afternoon local time. Some four million Paraguayans were called to the polls in elections that also elect senators, representatives and governors. So far, the participation figure exceeds 60%.
International observers from the European Union (EU) and the Organization of American States (OAS), who ensure the cleanliness of the general elections being held in Paraguay, highlighted the massive influx of voters from early in the morning and the “relative tranquility” with which the voting process took place.
“The admiration and respect for the Paraguayan people that I already had has deepened today by seeing the high participation of citizens voting. Civic participation is the fundamental basis of democracy… Participation is excellent by the standards that I have “said the head of the electoral mission of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Lauredo.
At least two people were arrested in the first hours of voting, as a result of some altercations between proxies of the ruling Colorado Party and the opposition National Concentration in Sapucaí, 92 kilometers from Asunción, the capital.
The country’s attorney general, Emiliano Rolón, described the incidents as minor “skirmishes” and celebrated the “massive” turnout of citizens to the polls.
The continuity of the Colorado Party
The coloradismo, which has governed the country for the last seven decades – except during the government of the now progressive senator Fernando Lugo (2008-2012) -, is risking its continuity in power before a coalition of left-wing movements and parties.
The results of the day will define the successor of Mario Abdo Benítez, current president in Paraguay, who voted very early in a school in the capital.
“Today is an important day for Paraguayan democracy, where the people have to come out and speak,” Benítez declared after casting his vote in Asunción.
The Colorado Party, through its departmental proxies and polling places throughout the Republic, urged to repel any attempt at violence that affects the voting process. Specifically, “attempted attempts at violence” in towns such as Puerto Falcón, in Canindeyú, as well as in some cities in the departments of Central and Paraguarí.
For his part, the first candidate to appear in front of the cameras was Santiago Peña, representative of that party, who assured this Sunday, before the opening of the general elections, that “today we define a country model, we choose if we want a Paraguay that will bet more on its human capital or we will again lose the enormous opportunity to grow by promoting the economic and social well-being of our people”. He then went to the polling station.
Later, the first images of the main presidential candidate of the Paraguayan opposition and leader of the center-left coalition Concertación Nacional, Efraín Alegre, voting were released.
Denunciation of the presence of armed groups
There, at the polling station, Efraín Alegre denounced that armed persons were kidnapping the representatives of the political group in Yby Pytá, one of the districts with the presence of organized crime, and asked the Police and the Armed Forces to guarantee security. of the proxies and members of the board.
The commander of the National Police, Gilberto Fleitas, assured in a press conference in Asunción that until now he had no records or any complaint about an event of this nature.
“Voting is taking place normally in Yby Pytá,” said Fleitas, who anticipated that they will intervene in all incidents and take complaints “formally.”
preventive measures
Paraguay, one of the few South American countries that does not have a second round in its electoral system, faces a close contest between the candidate of the ruling party Colorado Party, Santiago Peña, and the center-left coalition led by Efraín Alegre, who are running for as the favorites to take the position of president.
Since Saturday, the national government imposed a ban on the sale of alcohol, in addition to the impediment to hold mass events, less than 200 meters from the voting centers. In an effort to avoid intoxicated people on the day.
“We are ready to live and enjoy a great civic day. We invite citizens to go out and vote, to participate with democratic conviction, which is already a tradition in the Republic of Paraguay,” said Jorge Bogarín, president of the Court Superior of Electoral Justice.
With Reuters and EFE
