Elections in Paraguay: the historic Colorado Party is playing for continuity against a competitive left wing

The Republic of Paraguay will elect its next president in the elections this Sunday, April 30.

Citizens will have the possibility to vote among 13 lists of the different political parties of the country. However, there are two major parties with a chance to win.

They are the right-wing Colorado Party, which has governed Paraguay since 1948 almost uninterruptedly, having only been the opposition during the fleeting mandate of Fernando Lugo between 2008 and 2012.

On the other hand, the Liberal Party, which is not very liberal and is mostly a center-left formation, is encompassed under the leftist coalition Concertación Nacional.

Paraguayans will elect a president, vice-president, 45 senators, 80 deputies, 17 governors, and 257 legislators or council members of Departmental Boards.

According to the latest polls, Santiago Peña, of the ruling Colorado Party, is slightly leading the polls against Efraín Alegre of the opposition Concertación Nacional.

Peña does not generate much excitement among voters, and his coming to power would imply a slight change of course in the Colorado Party.

The current president Mario Abdo Benítez had promoted the candidacy of the right-wing Arnoldo Wiens but lost the Colorado internal elections by a small margin last December.

With 51.7% of the votes, Peña is the political dolphin of former president Horacio Cartes, former director of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Paraguay (BCP), and former Minister of Economy during the government of his political boss.

A victory of Peña, although it would be a continuity of the Colorado Party, would imply a change of course on several issues.

“Santi” is more liberal on economic issues but considerably less conservative than President Abdo on social issues.

Among his proposals, Peña proposes to launch a program to help the private sector create 500,000 new jobs, a strong campaign to reduce drug addiction in the population, and a housing loan plan.

Regarding security, Santiago Peña proposes the program “More linces, fewer motorcycle thieves,” in which he plans to triple the number of members of this division [The Lince Group is a motorized group of the National Police that is mainly dedicated to street security] in the main cities to reduce the number of street assaults with a strengthened National Police.

In general terms, the right-wing agenda of the Colorados will continue, but greater incorporation of Paraguay to the globalist agenda is expected with Peña than what would have happened with the evangelical pastor Arnoldo Wiens.

There is no comparison with what will happen if Efrain Alegre wins; the “liberal” candidate seems to be the closest to defeating the Colorados since Lugo’s infamous triumph in 2008.

Alegre proposed a massive program to provide free medicine to the whole country, national gender policies, and a clear adherence to the axis by Biden in South America with Boric, Petro, and Lula.

However, this round’s political debate has centered on corruption.

Alegre insists that the Colorado Party is a “mafia” and aims directly at campaigning on the fight against corruption, avoiding other issues.

The rank and file of the National Republican Association (ANR), the coalition that leads the Colorado Party, is divided by the Fuerza Republicana and Honor Colorado movements, headed by President Mario Abdo Benítez and his predecessor Horacio Cartes.

Both fronts are being pursued internationally by Biden’s Secretary of State.

Abdo’s” original candidate, his current vice-president Hugo Velázquez, was identified by the White House as “significantly corrupt”, accusing him of bribery, which makes him and his immediate family ineligible to enter the United States.

As a result of this accusation, Velázquez announced his resignation from his presidential candidacy.

Arnoldo Weis took his place, who, due to lack of knowledge of the Colorado bases, ended up losing to Peña.

However, Velázquez was ahead of him in all internal polls.

But it is not far from the situation of Horacio Cartes, who, in July 2022, was accused by the Secretary of State of obstructing a major international investigation into organized crime to protect himself from possible prosecution and political damage.

The White House also designated him “significantly corrupt” and revoked his visa.

The most recent polls show Peña ahead of Alegre but by a narrower margin than the Colorado Party would have liked.

According to the consulting firm FaSaC, Peña has 43.4% of voting intentions, while Alegre is close to 37.1%.

However, AtlasIntel, the most accurate pollster in the United States and Brazil, shows a victory for the leftist Alegre by 34.3% against 32.8% for the Colorados.

This poll puts the right-wing nationalist party Cruzada Nacional, headed by Payo Cubas, in third place with 23.1%, which explains the low number of the ruling party.

Finally, the pollster Multitarget places Peña first, with 34.9%, Alegre third, with 20.6% of voting intention, and the right-wing Cubas in second place, with 24.7%, a result that would be lapidary for the Paraguayan left.

Far behind in all the polls are the New Republic party, of “Abdo’s” former foreign minister, Euclides Acevedo, and the Youth Party, of the former goalkeeper and soccer idol José Luis Chilavert, with 3% and 2%, respectively.

They also remove votes from the ruling party since they have right-wing agendas like the Colorado Party.

With information from La Derecha Diario