Paraguay: Mayors Of The Largest Cities Are Re-Elected

On Sunday, mayors of Paraguay's largest cities were reelected in subnational elections marked by an unusual wave of violence against candidates.

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In the capital city, there were seven candidates for mayor and 23 lists of candidates for councilmen. In Asuncion, Oscar Rodriguez won the mayoralty with 47.5 percent of the vote, which allowed the Colored Party to stay in power.

The Liberal Party candidate Eduardo Nakayama obtained 42 percent of the votes, followed by Johanna Ortega from the Alliance Asuncion For All with 4.6 percent of the ballots.

In Ciudad del Este, the country's trading hub, the independent candidate Miguel Prieto remains in office with 62 percent of the votes. In second place was Ulises Quintana with 27 percent of the votes.

Over 4.6 million Paraguayans had the opportunity to elect the mayors and councilmen of 261 cities. The turnout at the national level averaged around 60 percent, according to the Superior Electoral Justice Tribunal (TSJE).

The election day took place amidst alleged electoral crimes, such as vote-buying and propaganda at polling places. Three people were arrested in three different cities for attempting to vote with other people's identity documents. During the electoral campaign, the level of violence was unusually high, with several deaths and attacks. In Itakyry, for example, candidate for councilman Carlos Aguilera was murdered on Sept. 22.

On Sept. 30, two other council candidates were assassinated: Nestor Echeverria and Bartolome Morel. Last Wednesday, unknown assailants opened fire on a van in which candidate Emiliano Cano and his son were traveling. On Sunday, the daughter of the Amambay governor was also murdered.