ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay — A broad-based opposition coalition in Paraguay sought to unseat South America’s longest-governing party Sunday in elections focused on corruption, the economy, health care and even ties with Taiwan.
The Colorado Party has governed Paraguay almost uninterrupted since 1947 and the landlocked nation has been practically immune to the political change and social movements that have swept the region.
All this could change with Sunday’s vote, which is focused on Santiago Peña of the Colorado Party and Efraín Alegre, the candidate of the Pact for a New Paraguay coalition who is also head of the Liberal party, the second-largest political force in Congress.
Paraguay doesn’t have a runoff, so whoever of the 13 candidates receives the most votes will be the next president. Voters are also casting ballots for Congress members.
“Today is the day we have to be protagonists in the construction of the future of the nation,” said outgoing President Mario Abdo Benítez on Sunday after casting his ballot.
Analysts expect a tight contest, with the opposition fueled by anger over high levels of corruption and the deficiencies in the health and education systems that worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Paraguay has a relatively stable economy though with high levels of poverty.
“There is a rather strange sense of uncertainty for this stage of the (governing) party, because in other elections the Colorados were already assured of victory, which is not the case this time,” said political consultant Sebastián Acha, leader of PRO Desarrollo Paraguay, a group that promotes public policies.
Alegre, a 60-year-old lawyer, is making his third bid for the presidency, though this time he is representing a mix of political parties. Paraguay is the only remaining country in South America to have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and Alegre has called for those ties to be reviewed, saying they are too costly.
Peña has defended the country’s relationship with Taiwan, but says he would seek more trade with China, without explaining how that would come about.
Peña was finance minister in the 2013-2018 government of powerful former President Horacio, who has been accused of corruption and links to terrorism by the United States. and, until recently.
He played up his party’s experience in governing Sunday.
“The choice is between a Paraguay that plans for the great leap forward into the future it needs or a country that is navigated by improvisation,” Peña said.
Peña’s presidential campaign was hit by U.S. sanctions on former President Horacio Cartes (2013-2018), for alleged bribery and ties to Hezbollah, which Washington designates as a terrorist group. The sanctions blocked Cartes, who is president of the Colorado Party, from the U.S. financial system and cut off funding and loans for the party’s campaign.
“The sanctions have been lethal,” said Diego Abete Brun, a political science professor who heads the Latin American and Hemispheric Studies program at George Washington University. “Cartes was the financing chief of the Colorado Party. The cash box was left empty.”
Peña said the accusations against Cartes “are groundless.”
But Alegre highlighted the accusations.
“We know who we are up against,” Alegre told reporters in his party’s office. ”We are going to defeat abundant money that comes from organized crime and illegality. Our adversary is not the Colorado party but the dirty money of organized crime.”
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.
“Generally, we Paraguayans like to stay in our homes and watch TV. But surprisingly and at such an early hour there are many people, obviously there is an expectation,” said Jorgelina Bogarín, 55, after voting at a school in Asunción.
Bogarín said the large turnout caught her attention because of people’s weariness with continuity, referring to the Colorado party. “It is the same, the same model whatever the color. The same corrupt structure.”
