Electoral Authorities Give Early Results in Paraguay Elections

The Superior Court of Electoral Justice (TSJE) started giving the preliminary results soon after polls closed across Paraguay at 4:00 p.m. local time for the country's seventh post-dictatorship general elections, since 1989.

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With 35.5 percent of the ballots reviewed, the TSJE reported that Mario Abdo Benítez obtained the support of about 47.7 percent, while Pedro Alegre scored 41,9. 

As of 3:00 p.m. local time, the elections had more than 50 percent turnout in the general elections while also giving details about overseas turnout in different countries.

Voters were choosing a new president, a vice-president, 45 senators, 80 deputies, 17 governors, 17 departmental congresses and 18 envoys to the Mercosur Parliament. There are 10 candidates vying for the presidency. The ruling Colorado Party's Mario Abdo Benitez and Ganar Alliance's Pedro Efrain Alegre are the main candidates.

Paraguay has a population of about 6.9 million, approximately 4.2 million of which are eligible voters. A little more than 2.1 million of that number are men and 2.0 million are women.

According to Americas Society/Council of the Americas analyst, Elizabeth Gonzalez, almost half of the eligible voters are under 35 years old.

“This year, 43 percent of the electorate will be 18-34 years old, most of whom won’t have a personal connection to the years of the dictatorship,” she said. “This makes them less likely to have a strong affiliation to either the Colorado Party or the Authentic Radical Liberal Party, the largest member of Ganar.”

The Organization of American States (OAS) will send a team of observers to monitor the elections, OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro previously announced.

"The objective of any electoral observation mission is to contribute to the strengthening of the electoral processes in the continent, promoting integrity, impartiality, transparency, and reliability," Almagro said.

The South American nation has about 38,000 overseas voters – spread across Argentina, Brazil, the United States and Spain – who will participate in the polls.

The president-elect will assume office on Aug. 15.

The Colorado Party has run the country for the past 70 years and is poised to extend rule, according to pre-election polls. Forty-six-year-old Benitez has held leads of up to 20 percentage points ahead of his counterpart. He is the son of Mario Abdo, the personal secretary to dictator Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled Paraguay from 1954 to 1989.

Benitez is a former Senate president who campaigned on judicial system reform. Alegre, on the other hand, has pledged free health care for the poorest and slash the cost of electricity bills.

Conservative President Horacio Cartes will wrap up a five-year term.