OPINION polls gave Mario Abdo Benítez a lead of 10-25 percentage points ahead of Paraguay’s presidential election on April 22nd. So it was no surprise when Mr Abdo Benítez, the son of the private secretary to Alfredo Stroessner, Paraguay’s dictator from 1954-89, was declared the winner. However, his margin of victory was much smaller than predicted: under 4% on a turnout of 61%. Both figures were the lowest since the return to democracy in 1989.
The president-elect’s Colorado Party has now won six of the seven elections since Stroessner’s fall. By 2023, it will have ruled for 70 of the past 75 years. The party closed ranks after a bitter primary in December, when Mr Abdo Benítez defeated Santiago Peña, the dauphin of the outgoing president, Horacio Cartes.
The main opposition, an awkward coalition of the conservative Liberal Party and the left-wing Frente Guasú, ran a ragged campaign. Its presidential candidate, Efraín Alegre,...Continue reading
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