Paraguay’s ruling party candidate, Santiago Peña, 44, has scored a big win in the presidential election, tightening the conservative Colorado party’s political grip and defusing fears that diplomatic ties with Taiwan might have been cut.
Peña, who has pledged to maintain Paraguay’s longstanding Taiwan relations, had 42.7% of the vote with more than 99% of ballots counted – a more than 15-point lead over centre-left rival Efraín Alegre, who has argued for switching allegiance to China.
“Thank you for this Colorado victory, thank you for this Paraguayan victory,” Peña said in a speech. The outgoing president, Mario Abdo, congratulated Peña as “president-elect”, as did the leaders of Brazil and Argentina.
Alegre acknowledged defeat soon thereafter. “Today, the results indicate that perhaps the effort we have made was not enough,” Alegre told reporters, adding that divisions among the opposition “prevented us from reaching the goal of being able to bring about the change that the majority of Paraguayans are asking of us.”
The Taiwanese embassy posted a message on social media congratulating “president-elect” Peña. Brazil’s left-of-centre president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, also congratulated Peña. The US embassy posted a statement congatulating Peña. “We will continue to work together in strengthening our excellent bilateral relations and promoting transparency and inclusive democracy.”
The conservative Colorado party also had a strong showing in other races, winning 15 of the 17 governorships up for election and getting majorities in both the senate and the lower house.
The election result leaves Peña facing a challenge to rev up Paraguay’s farm-driven economy, shrink a major fiscal deficit and navigate rising pressures from soy and beef producers to ditch relations with Taiwan in favour of China and its huge markets.
“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,” Peña said in his victory speech, calling for “unity and consensus”.
It also underscores the dominance of the Colorado party, which has ruled for all but five of the last 75 years and has a fierce campaign machine, despite rising discontent from some voters over the slowing economy and corruption allegations.
“Once a Colorado always a Colorado,” said Eugenio Senturion, 65, as he voted on Sunday at his local polling station in the area of Jara, Asunción.
Dry weather helped voter turnout, analysts said, with queues to cast ballots long after polling stations were formally meant to close at 4pm.
“All day we’ve observed high levels of participation,” said an observer for the Organization of American States (OAS) electoral mission.
“An unexpected result, very unexpected. I think even the Colorado party members are shocked by such a wide margin,” political consultant Sebastián Acha said. “It gives him enormous legitimacy due to the size of the difference and that makes Peña’s victory indisputable.”
Not all voters were happy, however, reflected in a larger-than-expected share for populist Paraguayo Cubas who had almost 23% of the vote in third place, reflecting wider support for anti-establishment candidates around Latin America.
“I’m worried about crime. All the candidates are the same for me,” said 34-year-old mother of three Maria Jose Rodas as a busload of voters arrived at the inner-city polling station. “Nothing will change.”
The buildup to the election was dominated by the economy, corruption allegations and the candidates’ views on Taiwan. Paraguay is one of only 13 countries to maintain formal diplomatic ties with the democratically governed island that China views as its territory.
Alegre had criticised those ties, which have made it hard to sell soy and beef to China, a major global buyer.
The results also appeared to mark a victory for former president Horacio Cartes, who governed in 2013-2018, and who the US state department recently accused of being involved in “significant corruption” as well as having ties to terrorism. He has denied the allegations, while Peña called them “groundless”.
Cartes, a local magnate who is also the president of the Colorado party, is a powerful figure in Paraguayan politics and members of the opposition had characterised Peña as a frontman for Cartes to hold power.
Cartes stood next to Peña as he gave his celebratory speech Sunday night. “I want to be a tool for you,” Cartes told Peña. “I want you to be sure that the Colorado party is going to be your best tool.”
Peña was finance minister in the Cartes government and, until recently, a member of the board of Banco Basa, a local bank owned by the former president.
With Reuters and Associated Press
