Santiago Peña of the ruling right-wing National Republican Association-Colorado Party (ANR-PC) won the presidential elections held in Paraguay on April 30. According to the preliminary results released by the Superior Tribunal of Electoral Justice (TSJE), Peña obtained 42.7% of the votes with 99.9% of the votes counted.
Following Peña, in second and third place, were Efrain Alegre of the center-left Coalition for a New Paraguay with 27.5% of the votes, and Paraguayo Cubas of the center-right National Crusade Party with 22.7% of the votes. The other 10 candidates polled less than 2% of the votes.
Around 4.8 million Paraguayans were eligible to vote in the elections. TSJE’s president Jorge Bogarín reported that over 63% of the registered voters participated, noting the high turnout.
Peña calls for unity and consensus
Prior to the official announcement of the results, Peña thanked the people for their support. “Thank you for this Colorado victory, thank you for this Paraguayan victory,” said Peña in a speech.
“Today, we are not celebrating a personal triumph, we are celebrating the victory of people who with their vote chose the path of social peace, dialogue, fraternity and national reconciliation,” he added.
Peña vowed to work to address economic stagnation and social inequalities, as well as to reduce poverty, unemployment, corruption and impunity. In this regard, he invited opposition political forces to a national agreement.
“We have a lot to do after the last years of economic stagnation, of fiscal deficit, the task that awaits us is not for a single person or for a party,” said Peña, calling for “unity and consensus.”
Alegre concedes defeat
For his part, Alegre conceded his defeat to Peña. He said that the coalition made “significant efforts to unite all sectors and bring about a change, but the results indicate that perhaps it was not enough.”
“I think that a pending task for this coalition is to advance in the search for formulas that allow us to continue fighting, because there is great hope for change,” he added.
Alegre, who vowed to combat institutional corruption and promote social policies, assured that the struggle continues and thanked those who voted for him and his running mate Soledad Núñez.
Future of Paraguay
Conservative economist Peña, 44, will assume office on August 15 to serve for the next five years. He campaigned on a platform of economic growth and job creation. He pledged to boost foreign investment in Paraguay and also promised to lower taxes to stimulate economic activity.
Nevertheless, his victory means that the Colorado Party will continue to govern Paraguay, which has been in power for almost eight decades and has been tainted by graft allegations. Recently, Peña’s mentor and former President Horacio Cartes (2013-2018), during whose rule Peña served as finance minister, was sanctioned by the US for corruption and money laundering. Therefore, the concerns about corruption within the political system are likely to persist.
Likewise, the neoliberal economic policies that have been prioritized over social welfare programs in the past decades are also likely to continue.
