Santiago Peña of the ruling Colorado party speaks at the party headquarters on April 30, 2023 in Asuncion, Paraguay | Photo Credit: Reuters
Paraguayans elected a president on Sunday from the right-wing Colorado party that has been in power for nearly eight decades, the electoral body said, as voters rejected a centre-left challenger who railed against institutional corruption .
Economist and former finance minister Santiago Peña, 44, won the election with more than 42% of the vote, results showed, with 90% of ballots counted.
Sixty-year-old challenger Efrain Alegre of the Concertationian centre-left coalition won a 27.5% lead despite holding a narrow lead in opinion polls ahead of Sunday’s vote.
The Colorado party has ruled almost continuously since 1947 – through a dictatorship and the return of democracy in 1989 – but has been tarnished by claims of corruption.
Peña’s political mentor, former president and Colorado party leader Horacio Cartes, had recently been sanctioned by the United States on corruption charges.
About 4.8 million of Paraguay’s 7.5 million residents were eligible to vote on 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 the new MPs.