RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The president of the ruling Colorado Party, Pedro Alliana, was re-elected Wednesday as head of the Chamber of Deputies of Paraguay for the fourth consecutive term after the ruling party won over the opposition candidate, the liberal Celeste Amarilla.
Alliana, who belongs to the sector of ‘coloradismo’ presided over by former president Horacio Cartes (2013-2018), obtained a total of 64 votes against 15 for Amarilla, from the Liberal Party, the largest opposition party.
The colorados voted as a block for Alliana, in another demonstration of unity after the consensus reached months ago between Cartes’ current and that of the President of the country, Mario Abdo Benítez, in view of the October municipal elections.
Likewise, a minority of liberal deputies voted for Alliana, who will remain in office until 2022, arguing the need for political stability in times of pandemic and pointing out the fact that the colored majority in the Lower House turned Amarilla’s candidacy into a testimonial one.
In this sense, the liberal Julio Minaur said before voting for Alliana that the “opposition must understand that the great battle is on the 23rd”, in relation to the year of the next presidential and legislative elections.
Amarilla, in response, said that “rarely have I heard such an obsessive opposition” and added that “the people expect the opposition to behave as opposition”.
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In her turn in the vote, and in supporting her candidacy, the legislator said “to vote against her executioners”.
Amarilla was suspended last October for 60 days without pay in a session in which a majority of legislators sanctioned her statements denouncing that at least 60 or 70 of the congressmen entered the Parliament with dirty money.
The suspension was supported by some deputies of his own party.
Liberalism is still divided into two sectors, the one presided by the president of the party, Efraín Alegre, and the one of Senator Blas Llano.
Source: efe