Sunday April 30, 2023 | 2:30 p.m.
With enviable growth rates, inflation under control and an investment boom in the real estate sector, today’s elections in Paraguay will not revolve around the measures that the next government will adopt in the economic field. In this regard, there seems to be a coincidence among the main candidates in maintaining the current course of the country, which could grow this year at a rate of between 4.5% and 4.8%, according to estimates by the International Monetary Fund and the Bank. world, respectively.
The political debate seems to be focused on another front: the fight against corruption and organized crime. Public opinion was shaken by the US Treasury Department’s sanctions against former President Horacio Cartes and his vice president, Hugo Velázquez, for “acts of corruption” and alleged “ties to members of Hezbollah.”
The election of Cartes last December as the new president of the pro-government National Republican Association (ANR), in open primary elections, added an ingredient to the current electoral process. In February of this year, in an attempt to get rid of the controversy, the former president announced that he would completely withdraw from “all direct or indirect shareholding” in the Cartes Group and would cease to be “final beneficiary of the group companies and all its affiliates and subsidiaries”.
The government party’s candidate is his former finance minister, Santiago Peña, who defended Cartes’ “honesty” and “transparency” and said that he “has not had a chance to defend himself” against US accusations.
From the opposition, on the other hand, Efraín Alegre, who heads the presidential formula of the Concertación for a New Paraguay, was blunt: “Smuggling has a boss in Paraguay, who is Horacio Cartes.” And he added that he would not be surprised if the next step was a request for the ex-president’s extradition.
Between January and February 2021, Alegre himself served 20 days in preventive detention in a case for the alleged use of false invoices during the previous presidential elections.
The advance of drug trafficking and organized crime in the country are an obligatory theme of the current electoral campaign. The concern has been raised not only by the US, but also by various civil society organizations and think tanks in Asunción.
A turning point for the entire Paraguayan society was the murder in May 2022 of the anti-corruption prosecutor Marcelo Pecci, on the Colombian beach of Barú. The crime, committed by hitmen, was confirmation of the tentacles of organized crime in the region.
“Our fight is for a different Paraguay, a Paraguay that offers more opportunities, a Paraguay that fights against these scourges of drug trafficking that we know have gotten into and that in recent years have practically turned Paraguay into a liberated zone,” Santiago said. Grief.
For his part, opponent Efraín Alegre warned: “We are a few steps away from seeing a Paraguay with a drug-dependent economy.” To prevent this from happening, he added, an “important understanding with other countries is necessary: Brazil, first of all; Argentina and the US.”
Everything will be decided during today’s day, when 4,782,940 qualified voters will elect, in addition to a new president and vice president, 45 senators, 80 deputies and the governors and legislators who will govern the destinies of the 17 departments of the country for the next five years ( 2023-2028).
Argentina leads the ranking of Paraguayan votes abroad
Today’s presidential elections in Paraguay not only call the attention of the country’s inhabitants, but also that of compatriots scattered throughout the world who, by registering in advance, will be able to cast their vote.
Argentina is the country that easily leads the list of nations that host Paraguayans abroad, with 31,315 eligible voters, according to figures from the Electoral Service.
Spain with 7,248 registered, the United States with 2,402, and Brazil with 540 are added to the list, which totals 41,505 Paraguayans qualified to vote abroad.
The requirement of prior registration with other cumbersome procedures considerably reduces the number of qualified to pay outside the borders.
Paraguayans will compete this Sunday in one-round elections that will define the successor to President Mario Abdo Benítez, in addition to also electing 45 senators, 80 deputies, 17 governors, and 17 departmental boards.
The favorites to access the government on August 15 are the candidate of the ruling Colorado party, Santiago Peña, and the candidate for an opposition coalition called Concertación por un Nuevo Paraguay, the liberal Efraín Alegre.
