Santiago Peña Wins General Elections in Paraguay

Santiago Peña, of the ruling Colorado Party, will assume the presidency on Aug. 15 to serve for the next five years, until Aug. 15, 2028. 

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The Superior Court of Electoral Justice (TSJE) confirmed Peña's victory with Pedro Alliana as vice-president by obtaining 42.77 percent of the votes. As there is no run-off election in the country, the president and vice-president are elected by simple majority of votes.

With 13 candidates competing for the offices of president and vice-president only two: the opposition Efraín Alegre (National Concertation) and the ruling party's Santiago Peña (Colorado Party) fought with a better chance of winning.

The candidate of the National Concertation for a New Paraguay party, Efraín Alegre, came second with 27.50 percent, while in third place was Payo Cubas, of the National Crusade Party, with 22.89 percent. The other presidential candidates had less than 2 percent.

According to the TSJE, the turnout was 63.16%, while there were 12,706 invalid votes and 66,036 blank votes.

At the close of the canvass, the work of the officials stationed at the Electoral Information and Monitoring Center (CIME), who receive the data from the TREP System from the polling places, is already in full process.

Before the official vote count came to an end, outgoing President Mario Abdo Benítez congratulated Peña on his victory: "We will work to initiate an orderly and transparent transition that strengthens our institutions and the country's democracy," Abdo said via Twitter. 

Santiago Peña is an economist and was Minister of Finance in the government of former President Horacio Cartes. He seeks to promote the integral development of the country.

His victory means that the same political line is maintained in a country where the ruling Colorado Party has governed for most of the last seven decades.

Congratulations to the Paraguayan people for their great participation in this election day and to President-elect Santiago Peña. We will work to initiate an orderly and transparent transition that will strengthen our institutions and the country's democracy.

A total of 4 782 940 Paraguayans were eligible to vote on April 30 in the presidential elections, and at least 41 000 Paraguayans living abroad were called to vote.

According to the Commander of the Paraguayan Police, Comandante General Comisario, Gilberto Fleitas, the election day took place normally, the voting centers throughout the country were calm and there was a great turnout. 

In addition to the president and vice-president, 45 senators and 30 alternates, 80 deputies and 80 alternates, 17 governors, 257 members and 257 alternates of the Departmental Boards were elected.