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Santiago Pena, presidential candidate of the Colorado ruling party (centre), talks beside former President Horacio Cartes (left) and his wife Leticia Ocampos after the voting closed during general elections in Asuncion, Paraguay, Sunday, April 30, 2023
PARAGUAY’S long dominant Colorado Party comfortably won weekend elections, with Santiago Pena being declared president-elect.
Mr Pena had 43 per cent of the vote with 99 per cent of votes counted today, ahead of challenger Efrain Alegre on 27 per cent. The right-wing Colorado Party also won majorities in the Senate and lower house of congress, extending its rule over the country that has continued almost uninterrupted since 1947 — most notoriously under dictator Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled from 1954 to 1989.
The new president was finance minister in the 2013-18 administration of Horacio Cartes, who still leads the Colorado Party and appeared next to him at the victory celebrations, vowing that the party would remain the “best tool” for governing the country.
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