Paraguayans have elected Santiago Peña as their new president, keeping the South American nation under the control of the right-wing Colorado Party, which has run the country for the past 76 years, except for a five-year break.
The results mean that Paraguay, a landlocked country of 7 million people, has bucked the leftist shift that has swept across Latin America in recent years.
Instead, Paraguayans voted for Peña, a candidate from the ruling right-wing party, in the April 30 general election. With 99% of votes counted, preliminary results showed the 44-year-old conservative economist had won 43% of the vote, well ahead of his main rival, Efraín Alegre.
Mr Alegre – the candidate of the Pact for a New Paraguay, a broad opposition coalition that had hoped to end the dominance of the Colorado Party – won just 27% of the vote.
Paraguay does not have a runoff election, so whichever of the 13 candidates receives the most votes will be the country's next president. Paraguay's new president will be sworn in on August 15.
Outgoing President Mario Abdo Benítez called Mr Peña “President-elect” in a congratulatory message on social media before the winner was officially announced. He also congratulated “the Paraguayan people for their great participation in this election day”.
Paraguay's President-elect Santiago Peña (center) celebrates his victory in Asunción, Paraguay, on the evening of April 30, 2023. Photo: Brazil Report
For his part, Mr. Peña told a crowd of supporters on the evening of April 30: “Today we are not celebrating an individual victory, we are celebrating the victory of a people who have chosen the path of social peace, dialogue, fraternity and national reconciliation. Long live Paraguay! Long live the Colorado Party!”
Mr Alegre conceded defeat shortly afterwards. “Today, the results show that perhaps the effort we have made was not enough,” Mr Alegre told reporters, adding that the divisions among the opposition “have prevented us from achieving our goal of bringing about the change that the majority of Paraguayans are asking for.”
Mr. Santiag Peña, a former economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), focused his campaign largely on the economy, promising to create 500,000 jobs, provide free kindergarten, reduce fuel and energy prices, and put more police on the streets.
Mr. Peña’s only explanation for how he would deliver on those promises was to expand the economy by cutting red tape and keeping taxes among the lowest in the world. “Paraguayans understand that we can become the most developed country in the world,” Mr. Peña said.
Paraguay is one of the poorest countries in South America, with a quarter of the population living in poverty, schools rated among the worst in the region and hospitals lacking basic medicines.
Mr Peña attributed Paraguay's underdevelopment to a devastating defeat in a conflict with its neighbours that ended in 1870 and wiped out much of the country's male population. "The conflict caused us to miss the train of development," he said .
Minh Duc (According to AP, NY Times)
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