Paraguay: broad opposition coalition formed to face the ruling party in 2023

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The opposition’s political parties and social organizations took a fundamental step towards the elections to be held in April 2023 by signing a document that commits them to carry on their ballots a single ticket for president and vice-president.

The parties signed a Concertación, a legal figure enabled by the electoral law, and will decide later on how they will define the binomial to face the Asociación Nacional Réplica (“National Replica Association”), the official name of the old Partido Colorado, which governed the country for seven decades, except for the 2008-2012 period of Fernando Lugo.

The agreement, long discussed and analyzed, was formalized in La Casa del Pueblo, the headquarters of the Partido Revolucionario Febrerista (PRF), during a meeting attended by representatives of the Partido Liberal Radical Auténtico (PLRA) -the main opposition force-, besides delegates of Encuentro Nacional, Patria Querida, Cruzada Nacional, Hagamos, Partido de la A, Democrático Progresista, Frente Amplio, Demócrata Cristiano, Paraguay Tekopyahu, Patriotas Independientes, Mopoco, PMPP, Despertar, Apytere Paraguay, Pueblo al Poder, Patria Nueva, and Yo Creo.

The one that has not yet signed the agreement is Frente Guasú, of former president Lugo, which has already launched the pre-candidacy of former minister Esperanza Martínez.

Among the signatories of the agreement there are several leaders who anticipated their intention to run as candidates, among them the deputy Sebastián Villarejo (Patria Querida), the former independent minister Soledad Núñez, the also independent Hugo Portillo, the liberals Martín Burt, Efraín Alegre and Hugo Fleitas, and the deputy Kattya González (Encuentro Nacional).

The movement also has the support of the Coordinating Committee of Victims of the Stroessner Dictatorship presided by Miguel Melgarejo, the Conquest Movement, and the Free Republicans Political Current.

According to the coordinators of the coalition, the Concertación will be presented tomorrow before the Superior Tribunal of Electoral Justice (TSJE).

According to the electoral schedule, on December 18, the simultaneous internal elections of all parties will be held, and next April 30, the following will be voted in the national elections: president, vice-president, 45 regular senators, as many alternate senators; while, in the departmental elections, Paraguayans will have to elect 80 regular deputies and as many alternate deputies, besides 17 governors and 17 departmental boards.

For the time being, the primaries defined for December 18 would be the opportunity in which the new opposition front could resolve its formula.

The hegemonic Colorado Party, meanwhile, announced that it would not resolve its internal elections in the simultaneous primaries and stated that it would question this possibility before the TSJE because, according to its representatives, the electoral law prohibits using the national electoral roll to resolve internal elections.

Although it is not yet defined, the members of the Concertación consider as very probable that, beyond the fact that they will run with the same presidential formula, it is almost certain that each party will present its own list of candidates for deputies and senators, even though some sectors are promoting the idea of unifying the legislative lists in a strategy aimed at avoiding the dispersion of votes.

“It is the first time that a great Concertación has taken place that allows us a different option and not only to those who are part of it but also to how the widest possible participation of the citizenship is sought. It is something very interesting and historical. We hope that people value it for what it is: an honest attempt to let the people decide, and not us,” highlighted the head of the PRF, Guillermo Ferreiro.

With information from El Observador