Paraguay’s long-ruling party takes big lead in early returns

By DÉBORA REY
Associated Press

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay (AP) — The long-governing Colorado Party appeared likely to extend its hold on Paraguayan politics as early returns from Sunday’s election gave a substantial lead to its presidential candidate, Santiago Peña.

With more than 90% of voting places reporting, Peña had 43% of the vote, compared to nearly 27% for the closest challenger, Efraín Alegre, the candidate of the Pact for a New Paraguay, a broad-based opposition coalition that had hoped to end Colorado’s reign.

Voters also cast ballots for members of Congress.

The opposition sought to capitalize on widespread discontent over high levels of corruption and deficiencies in the health and education systems that worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Paraguay has a relatively stable economy, but with high levels of poverty.

Outgoing President Mario Abdo Benítez called Peña “president-elect” in a congratulatory message on social media before a winner was officially declared. He also congratulated “the Paraguayan people for their large participation in this election day.”

Peña celebrated his showing while waiting for an official declaration of final results.

“Today we’re not celebrating a personal triumph, we’re celebrating the victory of a people who with their vote chose the path of social peace, dialogue, fraternity, and national reconciliation,” Peña told a crowd of supporters Sunday night. “Long live Paraguay! Long live the Colorado Party!”

Before the vote, analysts had said the race looked to be tight and predicted Alegre could have a chance of unseating South America’s longest-governing party, which has essentially ruled Paraguay uninterrupted since 1947.

Yet the preliminary returns seemed to indicate voters in preferred to stay with the familiar, a break for a region in which the incumbents have not done well in recent elections.

Paraguay doesn’t have a runoff, so whoever of the 13 candidates received the most votes would be the next president.

The results also appeared to mark a victory for former President Horacio Cartes, who governed in 2013-2018, who the U.S. State Department recently accused of being involved in “significant corruption” as well as having ties to terrorism. He has denied the allegations.

Cartes, a local magnate who is also the president of the Colorado Party, is a powerful figure in Paraguayan politics and members of the opposition had characterized Peña as a frontman for Cartes to hold power. Cartes stood next to Peña as he gave his celebratory speech Sunday night.

Peña was finance minister in the Cartes government and, until recently, a member of the board of Banco Basa, a local bank owned by the former president.

The election in this country of almost 7 million people also had geopolitical implications as Paraguay is the only remaining country in South America to have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and those ties became an issue in the campaign.

Alegre had called for the landlocked country’s relationship with Taiwan to be reviewed, saying they are too costly. Peña defended Paraguay’s relationship with Taipei, but said he would seek more trade with China, without explaining how that would come about.

Alegre, a lawyer who heads the Liberal party, the second-largest political force in Congress, was making his third bid for the presidency, though this time he represented a mix of political parties.

Peña’s presidential campaign was hampered by U.S. sanctions on Cartes for alleged bribery and ties to Hezbollah, which Washington designates as a terrorist group. The sanctions blocked Cartes from the U.S. financial system and cut off funding and loans for the party’s campaign.

“Cartes was the financing chief of the Colorado Party. The cash box was left empty,” said Diego Abete Brun, a political science professor who heads the Latin American and Hemispheric Studies program at George Washington University. He had expected a close contest.

Peña called the accusations against Cartes “groundless,” while Alegre sought to turn the claims against the Colorado Party.

“Our adversary is not the Colorado Party but the dirty money of organized crime,” Alegre told reporters.

There appeared to be a big turnout Sunday with long lines at polling stations. Some people complained of delays and difficulties with the electronic voting system.