Paraguayans yesterday headed to the polls in what could be the biggest electoral challenge to the ruling conservative Colorado Party in more than a decade, and with the country’s near 70-year ties with Taiwan potentially at stake.
The landlocked South American country of fewer than 7 million people started voting from 7am. Lawyer Efrain Alegre, 60, of the Concertacion center-left coalition is leading narrowly in opinion polls amid a recent anti-incumbency trend in Latin American elections.
His main challenger is Santiago Pena, a 44-year-old economist and former finance minister hoping to continue the rule of the Colorado Party, which has governed almost continually since 1947 — through a dictatorship and since the return of democracy in 1989, but has been hit by a slowing economy and graft allegations.
Photo: CNA
“I want change, yes, but not with Colorado, because it’s been them for over 70 years and we are suffering,” said Miriam Sanabria, a food vendor in Asuncion. “We need work, better security and free medicine at hospitals.”
In the streets and news debates, the political buildup has been dominated by the economy, corruption allegations and the candidates’ views on Taiwan. Taiwan only has 13 diplomatic allies.
Alegre has criticized Paraguay’s diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which have made it hard to sell soy and beef to China, a major global buyer, and has said that the Latin American farm-driven economy does not get enough in return from Taipei.
Pena has said he would maintain ties with Taiwan.
Nearly 5 million people were registered to vote in yesterday’s single-round winner-takes all presidential race. Paraguayans are also electing members of Congress and governors. The first results are expected from about 7pm.
In final campaign events, Alegre took aim at corruption charges that have dogged Colorado Party leader Horacio Cartes, who was sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury this year.
He called him the “Pablo Escobar of Paraguay.”
Cartes denies the allegations.
Pena acknowledged party divisions in his closing ceremony speech and promised to be “a symbol of party unity.”
Additional reporting by AFP
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