OAS and Paraguay agree on observation mission for upcoming municipal elections

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Organization of American States (OAS) will send an electoral mission to Paraguay to observe the municipal elections of October 10. More than four million Paraguayans are summoned, the Foreign Ministry advised this Tuesday (28).

The mission responds to the initiative of the Paraguayan government, which today signed in Washington the agreement with the OAS General Secretariat regarding the “Privileges and Immunities” of the observers, the source added.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Paraguay

The OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, quoted on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs page, referred that this will be the fifteenth mission of the organization in elections in Paraguay.

The observers will meet with the national authorities and local actors to make a final report on the process and recommendations. The Foreign Ministry stressed that Almagro will soon announce the person who will lead the mission.

During the meeting, the Chargé d’Affaires of Paraguay to the OAS, Raúl Martínez Villalba, communicated to Almagro the particularities of these elections, with unblocked lists and electronic voting machines.

A total of 28 political parties, 113 political movements, 118 electoral alliances, and four coalitions have candidates for presiding over the municipal governments and occupying the councils in the municipal elections, in which 4,644,536 people are eligible to vote, as announced last week by the Electoral Court.

Candidates for the 261 mayoralties total 831, while 15,535 aspire to integrate 2,781 councils.

The ruling Colorado Party presented the most candidates, followed by the Liberal Party, the largest opposition party.

Following those elections will be the internal party elections to designate candidates for the presidential and legislative elections of 2023.