The Paraguayans have elected a new president. “That the big winner may be the Paraguayan nation,” said incumbent Mario Abdo Benítez, who was one of the first to vote on Sunday, the Paraguayan newspaper ABC Color reported.
For once, his long-time governing party could suffer a defeat. In the past 76 years, the Partido Colorado has lost only one election in the South American country and was not in power from 2008 to 2013.
According to polls, former Treasury Secretary Santiago Peña of the conservative Colorado Party and longtime MP Efraín Alegre of the Radical Liberal Party are about evenly matched. Abdo Benítez cannot stand for re-election for constitutional reasons – the president is only allowed one term in office.
In the event of an election victory, Peña wants above all to promote the country’s economic development. “It’s time to leave behind what’s holding us back and build a better country,” Peña said in a speech at the Partido Colorado headquarters in the capital, Asuncion, before voting on Sunday morning.
Opposition candidate Alegre could benefit from recent corruption allegations against senior Colorado party members. He tried to score points with allegations of bribery. “We know that they will try to bribe the authorities with illegal money,” Alegre said before going to the polls in Lambaré, in the greater Asuncion area. Most recently, the United States put party leader and Paraguayan ex-president Horacio Cartes and incumbent Vice President Hugo Velázquez on the sanctions list.
Alegre also wants to establish diplomatic relations with China. The powerful farmers in Paraguay, which still maintains relations with Taiwan, have long wanted to establish diplomatic relations with China because they believe this will improve export opportunities for soybeans and beef, for example. Honduras recently announced in Central America that it wanted to establish diplomatic relations with China.
Paraguay has almost seven million inhabitants and, along with Bolivia, is the only country in South America without access to the sea. The main exports are soy, electricity and beef. During the corona pandemic, numerous opponents of vaccination had emigrated from Germany to Paraguay. In addition to the president, the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies and the governors will also be elected on Sunday.
Wahlamt Paraguay Bericht ABC Color
