The election authority said that the former finance minister had 42.7 per cent of the vote with more than 99 per cent of votes tallied, a 15-point advantage against Concertacion alliance lawyer Efrain Alegrem, 60.
Santiago Pena, a 44-year-old economist, won Paraguay’s presidential election, restoring the conservative Colorado Party to power after a close race.
The election authority said that the former finance minister had 42.7 per cent of the vote with more than 99 per cent of votes tallied, a 15-point advantage against Concertacion alliance lawyer Efrain Alegrem, 60.
President and legislative elections were open to 4.8 million South America’s 7.5 million citizens.
Pena thanked them for the Colorado and Paraguayan victories.
“Today, we are celebrating the success of a people who with their vote chose the road of social peace, discussion, brotherhood, and national reconciliation.”
“The effort was not enough,” Alegre said.
Alegre, a lawyer, held a slight lead in opinion polls prior to the vote, increasing the possibility that he may topple the Colorado Party, which had ruled virtually continuously since 1947—through a dictatorship and when democracy returned in 1989.
After years of economic stagnation and budgetary imbalance, Peña called for “unity and consensus” in his victory address.
Both frontrunners were socially conservative, opposing abortion and gay marriage in a Catholic nation.
Alegre pledged to review the relationship if he won, but Pena stated he would retain ties. Paraguay is one of 13 countries that recognise Taipei over Beijing.
Alegre also fought against Colorado Party corruption, two of whose leaders were sanctioned by the US.
Former President Horacio Cartes, Pena’s mentor, leads the Colorado Party.
Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Paraguay 137 out of 180.
Poverty, inequality, and rising crime were among electoral topics.
