Santiago Pena wins Paraguay election: election body

Paraguayans voted Sunday for a President they hope will tackle endemic corruption, crime and poverty in elections with possible consequences for ties with Taiwan and Israel

Santiago Pena from the ruling Colorado Party speaks at the party headquarters in Asuncion, Paraguay on April 30, 2023 | Photo Credit: Reuters

Paraguayans on Sunday elected a president from the rightwing Colorado Party, in power for nearly eight decades, the electoral body said, as voters rejected a center-left challenger who had railed against institutional corruption.

Economist and former finance minister Santiago Pena, 44, won the election with more than 42% of votes cast, results showed, with 90% of ballots counted.

Sixty-year-old challenger Efrain Alegre of the Concertacion center-left coalition garnered 27.5% despite having had a narrow lead in opinion polls ahead of Sunday’s vote.

The Colorado Party has governed almost continually since 1947 — through a dictatorship and since the return of democracy in 1989, but has been tainted by corruption claims.

Pena’s political mentor, ex-president and Colorado Party leader Horacio Cartes, was recently sanctioned by the United States over graft.

Some 4.8 million of Paraguay’s 7.5 million inhabitants were eligible to vote Sunday for a president to replace Mario Abdo Benitez, leaving office after a constitutionally limited single term, in a single-round, winner-takes all election.

They also voted for new lawmakers.