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2023 Paraguayan general election

2023 Paraguayan general election

← 2018 30 April 2023 (2023-04-30) 2028 →
Presidential election
Turnout	63.29% ( 2.05pp)
Candidate Santiago Peña Efraín Alegre Paraguayo Cubas Party Colorado Concertación PCN Running mate Pedro Alliana Soledad Núñez Stilber Valdez Popular vote 1,291,209 830,302 692,429 Percentage 43.93% 28.25% 23.56%
President before election Mario Abdo Benítez Colorado Elected President Santiago Peña Colorado
Parliamentary election
All 80 seats in the Chamber of Deputies All 45 seats in the Senate
Party Leader % Seats +/– Chamber of Deputies (41 seats for a majority) Colorado Santiago Peña 47.43 48 +6 PLRA Efraín Alegre 19.66 17 0 PCN Paraguayo Cubas 8.24 4 +3 CN2023 Efraín Alegre 7.80 6 New PPQ Sebastián Villarejo 3.27 1 −2 PEN Fernando Camacho 2.94 2 0 Yo Creo Miguel Prieto 2.33 2 New Senate (23 seats needed for a majority) Colorado Santiago Peña 45.73 23 +6 CN2023 Efraín Alegre 24.35 12 New PCN Paraguayo Cubas 11.50 5 +4 PEN Fernando Camacho 5.15 2 0 PPQ Sebastián Villarejo 2.51 1 −2 Guasú Front Fernando Lugo 2.11 1 −5 Yo Creo Miguel Prieto 1.95 1 New This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

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General elections were held in Paraguay on 30 April 2023 to elect the president, vice president, National Congress, and departmental governors.^[1] The incumbent president Mario Abdo Benítez and vice president Hugo Velázquez Moreno, both of the Colorado Party, were ineligible for re-election.

The Colorado candidate, former Finance Minister Santiago Peña, defeated both PLRA president Efraín Alegre from the Concertación alliance and former senator Paraguayo Cubas from the populist National Crusade Party. The election marked another victory for the long-dominant Colorado Party, which also won the majority of congressional and governor races.^[2] Both Peña and the vice president-elect Pedro Alliana were set to take office on 15 August 2023.

Electoral system[edit]

The president of Paraguay is elected in one round of voting by plurality.^[3] The 80 members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected by closed list proportional representation in 18 multi-member constituencies, based on the departments.^[4] The 45 members of the Senate are elected from a single national constituency using closed list proportional representation.^[5]

Candidates[edit]

Campaign[edit]

The campaign issues included Paraguay's relationship with Taiwan, allegations of corruption, and the state of the economy.^[2] Santiago Peña was supportive of maintaining ties with Taiwan, whereas Efraín Alegre criticized the country's ties to Taiwan and argued for opening up relations with China.^[2]

Peña previously ran in the 2017 Colorado presidential primaries but had lost to Mario Abdo Benítez, who went on to win the 2018 presidential election against Alegre.^[11] Peña was an economist at Paraguay's central bank before joining the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. He was described to Reuters as "clean-cut", "decent", and having "good ideas".^[11] Peña is a protégé of former president Horacio Cartes, who has been sanctioned by the United States due to being "significantly corrupt".^[12][13] Peña pledged to pursue "business friendly" policies, including a focus on job creation, low taxation, and attracting foreign investment into the country.^[11] Peña stated he would preserve relations with Taiwan and would move the country's embassy in Israel from Tel AvivtoJerusalem,^[11] a move previously made by Cartes in 2018, but reversed by Abdo Benítez later that year.^[14]

Alegre previously ran for president in the 2013 and 2018 general elections. He campaigned by criticizing the Colorado Party and accusing them of corruption.^[15] Alegre pledged to reassess the country's relationship with Taiwan, with a preference towards establishing diplomatic ties with China, with the goal of Paraguay gaining access to China's market for cattle and soy.^[15] Alegre pledged to cut public sector red tape and proposed a "new energy policy" with a focus on the Itaipu Dam and Yacyretá Dams (shared with Brazil and Argentina respectively), stating that Paraguay should utilize the energy generated for national development, rather than sell the power.^[15]

Populist, anti-establishment candidate Paraguayo "Payo" Cubas is a former senator,^[16] who described himself as a "romantic, republican and nationalist anarchist".^[16] Cubas was expelled from the Senate on 28 November 2019 following an incident in Alto Paraná Department that included the assault of police officers, damage to public property and calling for the killing of "100,000 brasiguayos", Paraguayans of Brazilian descent, leading to his impeachment from the senate.^[17][18][19] He campaigned to introduce the death penalty in specific cases, such as femicide, child rape, drug trafficking, parricide, murder in cases of robbery, and stealing from the Treasury, which would require a modification to Paraguay's constitution.^[20] Cubas proposed involving the Armed Forces of Paraguay in the government, and expanding the powers of the president over those of the parliament, describing the latter as a "den of thugs".^[20] Cubas has been likened by Leandro Lima of Control Risks to other right-wing populist figures from the Americas, including Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, and Javier Milei.^[16][21]

Opinion polls[edit]

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Pre-election polling[edit]

Results[edit]

President[edit]

The presidential election was won by Santiago Peña of the Colorado Party.^[33][34]

Senate[edit]

The following table shows the distribution of seats in the Senate.^[35] The status of at least one seat remains in doubt, however, as Rafael『Mbururú』Esquivel, elected for the National Crusade Party, was arrested and charged with child sexual abuse just before the elections.^[36][37]

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Colorado Party	1,319,617	45.73	23	+6
	Alliance of Senators for the Fatherland	702,776	24.35	12	New
	National Crusade Party	331,945	11.50	5	+4
	National Encounter Party	148,505	5.15	2	+2
	Beloved Fatherland Party	72,357	2.51	1	–2
	Guasú Front	60,774	2.11	1	–5
	I Believe	56,386	1.95	1	New
	New Republic Movement	44,704	1.55	0	New
	National Union of Ethical Citizens	30,545	1.06	0	–1
	National Patriotic Alliance Union	24,471	0.85	0	New
	Unámonos National Party	16,634	0.58	0	New
	Party of the Youth	15,636	0.54	0	New
	Liberty and Republic Party	14,481	0.50	0	New
	Humanist and Solidarity Movement	12,627	0.44	0	New
	National Party of the People 30A	12,281	0.43	0	New
	Dreamt Fatherland Party	7,644	0.26	0	New
	Citizen Patriotic Coordinator Movement	7,612	0.26	0	New
	Herederos Democratic Socialist Party	6,661	0.23	0	New
Total		2,885,656	100.00	45	0
Valid votes		2,885,656	95.55
Invalid votes		13,706	0.45
Blank votes		120,825	4.00
Total votes		3,020,187	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,772,196	63.29
Source: TSJE - Resultados Definitivos

Elected senators[edit]

Chamber of Deputies[edit]

The following table shows the distribution of seats in the Chamber of Deputies.^[38]

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Colorado Party	1,345,730	47.43	48	+6
	National Crusade Party	233,812	8.24	4	+3
	Alliance for Fatherland	221,383	7.80	6	New
	Beloved Fatherland Party	92,874	3.27	1	–2
	National Encounter Alliance	81,843	2.88	2	0
	National Coalition for a New Paraguay Caaguazú	70,877	2.50	2	New
	I Believe	66,126	2.33	2	New
	Itapúa Departmental Coalition 2023	60,273	2.12	2	New
	National Coalition for a New Paraguay Cordillera	59,752	2.11	2	New
	National Coalition for a New Paraguay Alto Paraná	51,002	1.80	1	New
	Departmental Coalition for a New San Pedro	47,265	1.67	2	New
	Alliance for Asunción Deputies	46,382	1.63	1	New
	Alliance for a New Paraguarí	36,667	1.29	1	New
	National Coalition for a New Paraguay Concepción	36,247	1.28	1	New
	Guasú Ñemongeta Front	33,254	1.17	0	0
	National Union of Ethical Citizens	31,969	1.13	0	0
	Alliance for a New Guairá	29,511	1.04	1	New
	Authentic Radical Liberal Party	28,162	0.99	1	–
	New Republic Movement	27,496	0.97	0	New
	Misiones Departmental Coalition 2023	24,688	0.87	1	New
	Party of the Youth	22,747	0.80	0	New
	Canindeyú Alliance	22,081	0.78	1	New
	Alliance for a New Caazapá	16,881	0.59	0	New
	All Together Alliance for Ñeembucú	16,788	0.59	1	New
	Alliance for a New Itapúa	15,240	0.54	0	New
	Unámonos National Party	15,029	0.53	0	New
	National Party of the People 30A	14,188	0.50	0	New
	Citizen Patriotic Coordinator Movement	12,370	0.44	0	New
	Liberty and Republic Party	10,200	0.36	0	New
	Boquerón Alliance Unites Us	8,048	0.28	0	New
	Alliance for a New President Hayes	7,906	0.28	0	New
	Dreamt Fatherland Party	7,206	0.25	0	New
	Let's go to Boquerón	6,974	0.25	0	New
	Herederos Democratic Socialist Party	6,289	0.22	0	New
	Humanist and Solidarity Movement	4,508	0.16	0	New
	President Hayes Alliance for the Fatherland	4,174	0.15	0	New
	National Coalition for a New Paraguay Alto Paraguay	3,317	0.12	0	New
	Únete Paraguay	2,835	0.10	0	New
	Capital Patriotic Union Alliance	2,732	0.10	0	New
	Northern Popular Unity	2,571	0.09	0	New
	Alliance Patriotic Union of San Pedro	2,066	0.07	0	New
	New Air Political Movement for Alto Paraná	1,407	0.05	0	New
	National Encounter Party	1,391	0.05	0	0
	Cordillera Patriotic Union Alliance	1,388	0.05	0	New
	Caazapá Patriotic Union Alliance	913	0.03	0	New
	Tekojoja People's Party	850	0.03	0	0
	Alliance Patriotic Union of Paraguarí	841	0.03	0	New
	Green Party Paraguay	684	0.02	0	New
	Alliance Patriotic Union of Concepción	613	0.02	0	New
Total		2,837,550	100.00	80	0
Valid votes		2,837,550	94.22
Invalid votes		13,650	0.45
Blank votes		160,551	5.33
Total votes		3,011,751	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,730,694	63.66
Source: TSJE - Resultados Definitivos

Elected deputies[edit]

Departmental governors[edit]

Department	Elected governor	Party		Votes	%	Margin	Result
Alto Paraguay	Arturo Méndez		Colorado	7,103	73.14	54.79	Hold
Alto Paraná	César Torres		Colorado	131,233	40.17	9.91	Hold
Amambay	Juancho Acosta		Colorado	34,268	47.02	4.41	Gain
Boquerón	Harold Bergen		Colorado	10,603	38.96	10.73	Hold
Caaguazú	Marcelo Soto		Colorado	113,106	51.77	18.54	Gain
Caazapá	Christian Acosta		Colorado	45,690	62.44	35.74	Hold
Canindeyú	Nelson Martínez		Colorado	46,094	57.65	32.15	Hold
Central	Ricardo Estigarribia		National Coalition	342,716	39.90	2.44	Gain
Concepción	Liz Meza		Colorado	44,298	45.47	0.03	Gain
Cordillera	Denis Lichi		Colorado	71.712	46.08	3.62	Gain
Guairá	Cesarito Sosa		Colorado	64,521	62.82	37.58	Hold
Itapúa	Javier Pereira		National Coalition	101,273	44.86	5.37	Gain
Misiones	Richard Ramírez		Colorado	40,316	58.61	24.35	Hold
Ñeembucú	Víctor Hugo Forneron		Colorado	27,030	56.07	21.71	Hold
Paraguarí	Norma Zárate de Monges		Colorado	71,868	59.39	32.96	Hold
Presidente Hayes	Bernardo Zárate		Colorado	29,528	57.75	30.30	Hold
San Pedro	Freddy D. Ecclesiis		Colorado	83,852	51.54	18.36	Hold
TREP

Aftermath[edit]

Peña was congratulated by outgoing president Mario Abdo Benítez, and presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Alberto Fernández of Brazil and Argentina, respectively.^[2] Peña also received congratulations from the Taiwanese ambassador in Asunción on behalf of Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen.^[2] Both Peña and his running mate Pedro Alliana were sworn in on 15 August 2023. At the age of 44, he will become the country's youngest president since the restoration of democracy in 1989, surpassing Abdo Benítez's record, who was 46 years old when he became president in 2018.^[13]

Cubas made allegations of electoral fraud, leading to protests by his supporters.^[21] He dubbed members of the Colorado Party "thieves" and called on citizens to resist the "usurpers".^[13] Election observers from the Organization of American States stated there was "no reason to doubt" the results of the election.^[21][13] Protesters set up roadblocks and clashed with police, resulting in 70 arrests following protests outside of the electoral court in Asunción.^[21][13] Alegre, who had conceded the election, called for a manual recount of votes and an international audit following the nationwide protests.^[21][13] On 5 May, Cubas was arrested in San Lorenzo, accused of breaching the peace.^[39]

References[edit]