Peña's victory in Paraguay slows advance of the left in region

 
1,467Views 0Comments Posted 01/05/2023

 

 The resounding victory of economist Santiago Peña in the Paraguay presidential elections on Sunday puts a brake on the advance of the left in Latin America and consolidates the dominance in the power of the conservative Colorado Party, which day secured the majority in the Senate and the governorates of 15 of the 17 departments of the country.

At the age of 44, Peña defeated liberal Efraín Alegre, a candidate from a coalition of various opposition parties, who failed in his third attempt to win the presidency.

With 94.74% of the tables processed and participation of 63.11%, Peña and his running mate for the Vice Presidency of, Pedro Alliana, added 1,255,104 votes (42.93%), according to the data of the transmission system of preliminary electoral results Alegre reached 785,338 votes in the election (27.52%). One of the surprises of the day was given by the independent and anti-system candidate Paraguay Cubas, who, with the backing of the National Crusade Party, managed to gather 22.73% support (648,761 votes).Peña will take over from the current president of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez, also from the Colorado Party.

The victory of the Colorados in Paraguay breaks with a leftist trend that returned to the region with the electoral victory in Chile of Gabriel Boric; in Colombia by Gustavo Petro and more recently by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. This was the first time since 2019 that a party in power was not punished by the electorate,

Peña celebrated his triumph, called for unity, and anticipated his intention to address inequalities and social asymmetries, without mentioning concrete actions by his future government.

"I call for unity and consensus to achieve our destiny of collective well-being and prosperity without exclusions. The time has come to postpone our differences, to prioritize the common causes that unite us as a nation," he said.

 “And he added that the task to be done "is not for a single person or just for a party."