2023 Paraguayan general election
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Presidential election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Paraguay portal |
General elections were held in Paraguay on 30 April 2023 to elect the president, vice president, National Congress, and departmental governors.[1] The incumbent president Mario Abdo Benítez and vice president Hugo Velázquez Moreno, both of the Colorado Party, were ineligible for re-election.
The Colorado candidate, former Finance Minister Santiago Peña, defeated both PLRA president Efraín Alegre from the Concertación alliance and former senator Paraguayo Cubas from the populist National Crusade Party. The election marked another victory for the long-dominant Colorado Party, which also won the majority of congressional and governor races.[2] Both Peña and the vice president-elect Pedro Alliana were set to take office on 15 August 2023.
Electoral system
[edit]The president of Paraguay is elected in one round of voting by plurality.[3] The 80 members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected by closed list proportional representation in 18 multi-member constituencies, based on the departments.[4] The 45 members of the Senate are elected from a single national constituency using closed list proportional representation.[5]
Candidates
[edit]| List | Ticket | Candidates | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| President | Vice President | |||
| 1 | Colorado Party | Santiago Peña[6] | Pedro Alliana | |
| 3 | Concertación for a New Paraguay | Efraín Alegre[7] | Soledad Núñez[8] | |
| 7 | National Union of Ethical Citizens | Jorge Humberto Gómez | Noelia Núñez | |
| 10 | New Republic Movement | Euclides Acevedo[9] | Jorge Querey | |
| 14 | Humanist and Solidary Movement | Juan Félix Romero | Catalina Ramírez | |
| 15 | Unámonos National Party | Luis Talavera | Celso Álvarez | |
| 21 | Party of the Youth | José Luis Chilavert[10] | Sofia Scheid | |
| 23 | Green Party Paraguay | Óscar Cañete | Luis Wilfrido Arce | |
| 30 | National Party of the People 30A | Prudencio Burgos | Leona Guaraní | |
| 33 | Citizen Patriotic Coordinator Movement | Alfredo Machuca | Justina Noguera | |
| 45 | Herederos Democratic Socialist Party | Rosa Bogarín | Herminio Lesme | |
| 777 | Únete Paraguay | Aurelio Martínez Cabral | David Sánchez N. | |
| 911 | National Crusade | Paraguayo Cubas | Stilber Valdez | |
| Source: TREP | ||||
Campaign
[edit]The campaign issues included Paraguay's relationship with Taiwan, allegations of corruption, and the state of the economy.[2] Santiago Peña was supportive of maintaining ties with Taiwan, whereas Efraín Alegre criticized the country's ties to Taiwan and argued for opening up relations with China.[2]
Peña previously ran in the 2017 Colorado presidential primaries but had lost to Mario Abdo Benítez, who went on to win the 2018 presidential election against Alegre.[11] Peña was an economist at Paraguay's central bank before joining the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. He was described to Reuters as "clean-cut", "decent", and having "good ideas".[11] Peña is a protégé of former president Horacio Cartes, who has been sanctioned by the United States due to being "significantly corrupt".[12][13] Peña pledged to pursue "business friendly" policies, including a focus on job creation, low taxation, and attracting foreign investment into the country.[11] Peña stated he would preserve relations with Taiwan and would move the country's embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,[11] a move previously made by Cartes in 2018, but reversed by Abdo Benítez later that year.[14]
Alegre previously ran for president in the 2013 and 2018 general elections. He campaigned by criticizing the Colorado Party and accusing them of corruption.[15] Alegre pledged to reassess the country's relationship with Taiwan, with a preference towards establishing diplomatic ties with China, with the goal of Paraguay gaining access to China's market for cattle and soy.[15] Alegre pledged to cut public sector red tape and proposed a "new energy policy" with a focus on the Itaipu Dam and Yacyretá Dams (shared with Brazil and Argentina respectively), stating that Paraguay should utilize the energy generated for national development, rather than sell the power.[15]
Populist, anti-establishment candidate Paraguayo "Payo" Cubas is a former senator,[16] who described himself as a "romantic, republican and nationalist anarchist".[16] Cubas was expelled from the Senate on 28 November 2019 following an incident in Alto Paraná Department that included the assault of police officers, damage to public property and calling for the killing of "100,000 brasiguayos", Paraguayans of Brazilian descent, leading to his impeachment from the senate.[17][18][19] He campaigned to introduce the death penalty in specific cases, such as femicide, child rape, drug trafficking, parricide, murder in cases of robbery, and stealing from the Treasury, which would require a modification to Paraguay's constitution.[20] Cubas proposed involving the Armed Forces of Paraguay in the government, and expanding the powers of the president over those of the parliament, describing the latter as a "den of thugs".[20] Cubas has been likened by Leandro Lima of Control Risks to other right-wing populist figures from the Americas, including Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, and Javier Milei.[16][21]
Opinion polls
[edit] | Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
| Polling Firm | Publishment Date | Santiago Peña ANR–PC |
Efraín Alegre PLRA |
Euclides Acevedo MNR |
José Luis Chilavert PJ |
Paraguayo Cubas PCN |
Others | Don't know | None |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AtlasIntel[22] | 25 April 2023 | 32.8% | 34.3% | 3.0% | 1.2% | 23.0% | 1.4% | 1.9% | 2.4% |
| Datos[23] | 10 April 2023 | 35.5% | 40.6% | 1.9% | 12.6% | 0.9% | 8.5% | ||
| AtlasIntel[24] | 5 April 2023 | 36.4% | 38.1% | 2.8% | 2.1% | 14.5% | 1.1% | 3.5% | 1.5% |
| AtlasIntel[25] | 15 March 2023 | 36.1% | 38.2% | 2.7% | 2.9% | 14.3% | 0.9% | 4.2% | 0.8% |
| FaSaC Consultores[26] | 10 March 2023 | 42.8% | 32.1% | 6.1% | 2.1% | 13.7% | 1.7% | 1.5% | |
| GEO[27] | 27 February 2023 | 35.3% | 39.7% | 5.8% | 0.7% | 10.3% | 8.2% | ||
| Datos[28] | 24 February 2023 | 30.5% | 33.6% | 3.3% | 10.4% | 0.9% | 20.1% | 1.2% | |
| FaSaC Consultores[29] | 20 February 2023 | 41.3% | 28.3% | 9.5% | 3.5% | 13.9% | 2% | 1.5% | |
| GEO[30] | 20 February 2023 | 35.2% | 38.9% | 6.0% | 0.8% | 10.4% | 9% | 8.7% | |
| Ati Snead[31] | 6 February 2023 | 46.2% | 24.9% | 6.5% | 1.2% | 4.2% | 9% | 8% | |
| OIMA[32] | 2 February 2023 | 42% | 19% | 7% | 4% | 12% | 10% | 6% |
Pre-election polling
[edit]| Polling Firm | Fieldwork date | Peña ANR–PC |
Velázquez ANR–PC |
Alegre PLRA |
Acevedo TBA |
González PEN |
Villarejo PPQ |
Cubas PCN |
Martínez FG-Ñ |
Núñez Ind |
Burt PLRA |
Chilavert Ind |
Fleitas PLRA |
Don't know/ No response |
None of the above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FaSaC Consultores | 20 September 2022 | 32.2% | — | 22.1% | 4.5% | — | 11.8% | — | 3.9% | — | 16.1% | 9.4% | |||
| Ati Snead | 8–15 June 2022 | 23.2% | 14.0% | 14.3% | 9.9% | 9.7% | 4.3% | 2.9% | 2.0% | 2.0% | 1.9% | 1.1% | 1.0% | 9.0% | 4.8% |
| GEO | 27 May – 10 June 2022 | 35.3% | — | 37.5% | — | 13.4% | 13.8% | ||||||||
| — | 28.2% | 37.1% | 18.5% | 16.3% | |||||||||||
Results
[edit]President
[edit]The presidential election was won by Santiago Peña of the Colorado Party.[33][34]
| Candidate | Running mate | Party | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santiago Peña | Pedro Alliana | Colorado Party | 1,291,209 | 43.93 | |
| Efraín Alegre | Soledad Núñez | National Coalition for a New Paraguay | 830,302 | 28.25 | |
| Paraguayo Cubas | Stilber Valdez | National Crusade Party | 692,429 | 23.56 | |
| Euclides Acevedo | Jorge Querey | New Republic Movement | 41,164 | 1.40 | |
| José Luis Chilavert | Sofia Scheid | Party of the Youth | 24,259 | 0.83 | |
| Luis Talavera Alegre | Celso Álvarez | Unámonos National Party | 17,328 | 0.59 | |
| Jorge Humberto Gómez | Noelia Núñez | National Union of Ethical Citizens | 12,066 | 0.41 | |
| Juan Félix Romero | Catalina Ramírez | Humanist and Solidarity Movement | 5,869 | 0.20 | |
| Rosa María Bogarín | Herminio Lesme | Herederos Democratic Socialist Party | 5,266 | 0.18 | |
| Prudencio Burgos | Leona Guaraní | National Party of the People 30A | 5,258 | 0.18 | |
| Alfredo Luis Machuca | Justina Noguera | Citizen Patriotic Coordinator Movement | 5,204 | 0.18 | |
| Óscar Mauricio Cañete | Luis Wilfrido Arce | Green Party Paraguay | 4,847 | 0.16 | |
| Aurelio Martínez | David Sánchez | Únete Paraguay | 3,866 | 0.13 | |
| Total | 2,939,067 | 100.00 | |||
| Valid votes | 2,939,067 | 97.29 | |||
| Invalid votes | 13,694 | 0.45 | |||
| Blank votes | 68,288 | 2.26 | |||
| Total votes | 3,021,049 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 4,773,427 | 63.29 | |||
| Source: TSJE | |||||
Senate
[edit]The following table shows the distribution of seats in the Senate.[35] The status of at least one seat remains in doubt, however, as Rafael "Mbururú" Esquivel, elected for the National Crusade Party, was arrested and charged with child sexual abuse just before the elections.[36][37]
 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
| Colorado Party | 1,319,617 | 45.73 | 23 | +6 | |
| Alliance of Senators for the Fatherland | 702,776 | 24.35 | 12 | New | |
| National Crusade Party | 331,945 | 11.50 | 5 | +4 | |
| National Encounter Party | 148,505 | 5.15 | 2 | +2 | |
| Beloved Fatherland Party | 72,357 | 2.51 | 1 | –2 | |
| Guasú Front | 60,774 | 2.11 | 1 | –5 | |
| I Believe | 56,386 | 1.95 | 1 | New | |
| New Republic Movement | 44,704 | 1.55 | 0 | New | |
| National Union of Ethical Citizens | 30,545 | 1.06 | 0 | –1 | |
| National Patriotic Alliance Union | 24,471 | 0.85 | 0 | New | |
| Unámonos National Party | 16,634 | 0.58 | 0 | New | |
| Party of the Youth | 15,636 | 0.54 | 0 | New | |
| Liberty and Republic Party | 14,481 | 0.50 | 0 | New | |
| Humanist and Solidarity Movement | 12,627 | 0.44 | 0 | New | |
| National Party of the People 30A | 12,281 | 0.43 | 0 | New | |
| Dreamt Fatherland Party | 7,644 | 0.26 | 0 | New | |
| Citizen Patriotic Coordinator Movement | 7,612 | 0.26 | 0 | New | |
| Herederos Democratic Socialist Party | 6,661 | 0.23 | 0 | New | |
| Total | 2,885,656 | 100.00 | 45 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 2,885,656 | 95.55 | |||
| Invalid votes | 13,706 | 0.45 | |||
| Blank votes | 120,825 | 4.00 | |||
| Total votes | 3,020,187 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 4,772,196 | 63.29 | |||
| Source: TSJE - Resultados Definitivos | |||||
Elected senators
[edit]Chamber of Deputies
[edit]The following table shows the distribution of seats in the Chamber of Deputies.[38]
Elected deputies
[edit]Departmental governors
[edit]| Department | Elected governor | Party | Votes | % | Margin | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Alto Paraguay
|
Arturo Méndez | Colorado | 7,103 | 73.14 | 54.79 | Hold | |
 Alto Paraná
|
César Torres | Colorado | 131,233 | 40.17 | 9.91 | Hold | |
 Amambay
|
Juancho Acosta | Colorado | 34,268 | 47.02 | 4.41 | Gain | |
 Boquerón
|
Harold Bergen | Colorado | 10,603 | 38.96 | 10.73 | Hold | |
 Caaguazú
|
Marcelo Soto | Colorado | 113,106 | 51.77 | 18.54 | Gain | |
 Caazapá
|
Christian Acosta | Colorado | 45,690 | 62.44 | 35.74 | Hold | |
 Canindeyú
|
Nelson Martínez | Colorado | 46,094 | 57.65 | 32.15 | Hold | |
 Central
|
Ricardo Estigarribia | National Coalition | 342,716 | 39.90 | 2.44 | Gain | |
 Concepción
|
Liz Meza | Colorado | 44,298 | 45.47 | 0.03 | Gain | |
 Cordillera
|
Denis Lichi | Colorado | 71.712 | 46.08 | 3.62 | Gain | |
 Guairá
|
Cesarito Sosa | Colorado | 64,521 | 62.82 | 37.58 | Hold | |
 Itapúa
|
Javier Pereira | National Coalition | 101,273 | 44.86 | 5.37 | Gain | |
 Misiones
|
Richard Ramírez | Colorado | 40,316 | 58.61 | 24.35 | Hold | |
 Ñeembucú
|
Víctor Hugo Forneron | Colorado | 27,030 | 56.07 | 21.71 | Hold | |
 Paraguarí
|
Norma Zárate de Monges | Colorado | 71,868 | 59.39 | 32.96 | Hold | |
 Presidente Hayes
|
Bernardo Zárate | Colorado | 29,528 | 57.75 | 30.30 | Hold | |
 San Pedro
|
Freddy D. Ecclesiis | Colorado | 83,852 | 51.54 | 18.36 | Hold | |
| TREP | |||||||
Aftermath
[edit]Peña was congratulated by outgoing president Mario Abdo Benítez, and presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Alberto Fernández of Brazil and Argentina, respectively.[2] Peña also received congratulations from the Taiwanese ambassador in Asunción on behalf of Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen.[2] Both Peña and his running mate Pedro Alliana were sworn in on 15 August 2023. At the age of 44, he will become the country's youngest president since the restoration of democracy in 1989, surpassing Abdo Benítez's record, who was 46 years old when he became president in 2018.[13]
Cubas made allegations of electoral fraud, leading to protests by his supporters.[21] He dubbed members of the Colorado Party "thieves" and called on citizens to resist the "usurpers".[13] Election observers from the Organization of American States stated there was "no reason to doubt" the results of the election.[21][13] Protesters set up roadblocks and clashed with police, resulting in 70 arrests following protests outside of the electoral court in Asunción.[21][13] Alegre, who had conceded the election, called for a manual recount of votes and an international audit following the nationwide protests.[21][13] On 5 May, Cubas was arrested in San Lorenzo, accused of breaching the peace.[39]
References
[edit]- ^ "El 30 de abril de 2023 Paraguay elegirá a su nuevo presidente". ultimahora.com (in European Spanish). 16 December 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
- ^ a b c d e Elliott, Lucinda; Desantis, Daniela (1 May 2023). "Paraguay's conservatives score big election win, defusing Taiwan fears". Reuters. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ Paraguay: Election for President IFES
- ^ Chamber of Deputies: Electoral system IPU
- ^ Senate: Electoral system IPU
- ^ "La Nación / Santiago Peña confirma su precandidatura para el 2023 como candidato de Honor Colorado". www.lanacion.com.py (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 March 2023.
- ^ "Excandidato y exministra buscan candidatura opositora a Presidencia paraguaya". SWI swissinfo.ch (in Spanish). 17 August 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
- ^ "Exministra Soledad Núñez oficializa su candidatura presidencial – Nacionales – ABC Color". www.abc.com.py (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 March 2023.
- ^ "Euclides deja la Cancillería y se suma a la carrera presidencial". ultimahora.com (in European Spanish). 29 April 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
- ^ "La Nación / Chilavert confirma candidatura a presidencia en el 2023". www.lanacion.com.py (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 March 2023.
- ^ a b c d "Who is Paraguay's president-elect, Santiago Pena?". Al Jazeera. 1 May 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ "US places former Paraguayan president on corruption list". Associated Press. 22 July 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f "Amid protests, authorities uphold legitimacy of Paraguay election". Al Jazeera. 3 May 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
- ^ "Outcry from Israel after Paraguay moves its Jerusalem embassy back to Tel Aviv". The Guardian. 5 September 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
- ^ a b c Desantis, Daniela; Elliott, Lucinda (26 April 2023). "Paraguay's Efrain Alegre went from jail to presidential run". Reuters. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ a b c del Berro, Paloma (30 April 2023). "Payo, el Milei paraguayo, aprendiz de Bolsonaro". Tiempo Argentino (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ "Expulsan a "Payo" Cubas del Senado" ["Payo" Cubas is expelled from the Senate]. ABC Color (in Spanish). 28 November 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ "Senado expulsa a Paraguayo Cubas tras incidentes con policías" [Senate expels Paraguayo Cubas after incidents with police]. Última Hora (in Spanish). 28 November 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ Zanini, Fábio (29 November 2019). "Paraguayan Senator Is Impeached after Advocating Death of Brazilians". Folha de S.Paulo. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ a b "Payo Cubas a favor de la pena de muerte "al que roba el erario público"". Ñanduti (in Spanish). 20 April 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Sáenz, Jorge; Politi, Daniel (2 May 2023). "Paraguay: Populist candidate fires up protesters after vote". Toronto Star. The Associated Press. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ AtlasIntel (25 April 2023). "Encuesta Atlas – Elecciones Paraguay 2023". Paraguay.
- ^ Datos (10 April 2023). "Paraguay: el opositor Efraín estira la ventaja sobre los colorados a dos semanas de las presidenciales". Paraguay.
- ^ AtlasIntel (5 April 2023). "Encuesta Atlas – Elecciones Paraguay 2023". Paraguay.
- ^ AtlasIntel (15 March 2023). "Encuesta Atlas – Elecciones Paraguay 2023". Paraguay.
- ^ La Nación (10 March 2023). "Santiago Peña gana la primera encuesta de marzo". Paraguay.
- ^ El Independiente (27 February 2023). "Alegre saca ventaja a Peña en encuesta". Paraguay.
- ^ "Encuesta: la izquierda paraguaya se ubica tres puntos arriba del candidato de Cartes". La Política Online (in Spanish). Paraguay. 24 February 2023.
- ^ "Peña también gana en todas las encuestas de febrero". La Nación (in Spanish). 20 February 2023.
- ^ "Hay una diferencia del 3.7% a favor de Efraín Alegre por sobre Santi Peña segun encuestadora GEO". Ñanduti (in Spanish). 20 February 2023.
- ^ "Latorre lidera encuesta para la diputación por capital". La Nación (in Spanish). 6 February 2023.
- ^ "Peña, con más de 20 puntos por encima de Alegre, lidera preferencia electoral". La Nación (in Spanish). 2 February 2023.
- ^ Elliott, Lucinda; Desantis, Daniela (1 May 2023). "Paraguay's conservatives score big election win, defusing Taiwan fears". Reuters. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
- ^ "Santiago Pena wins Paraguay election after hard-fought campaign". Al Jazeera. 1 May 2023. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
- ^ "Estos son los 45 senadores electos para el periodo legislativa 2023–2028" (in Spanish). 30 April 2023.
- ^ "Mbururú se expone a 15 años de cárcel por abuso en niños: ¿Qué pasará con el senador electo?". Última Hora (in Spanish). 1 May 2023. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
- ^ "Un candidato paraguayo que fue electo senador está preso e imputado por abuso sexual a una menor". Infobae. 1 May 2023. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
- ^ "El Partido Colorado tendrá 49 representantes en Cámara de Diputados" (in Spanish).
- ^ Politi, Daniel (5 May 2023). "Paraguay far-right populist presidential candidate arrested". AP News. Buenos Aires. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
| Presidential elections | |
|---|---|
| Parliamentary elections | |
| Constitutional Assemblies | |
| Departmental elections | |
| Municipal elections | |
| Referendums | |
