The voting centers opened this Sunday in Paraguay for the eighth general elections since the beginning of the democratic stage in this South American country, which will focus mainly on the bid for the Presidency between the pro-government Santiago Peña and the liberal opponent Efraín Alegre.
From 7:00 a.m. local time (11:00 GMT) until 4:00 p.m. (20:00 GMT), 1,157 stores will be operating in which 12,259 tables have been set up, to which 4,782,940 voters are authorized to attend.
The day began with political party leaders’ complaints about the polling stations’ location, which went no further.
From 7:00 p.m. on Saturday (21. GMT), a ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages came into force, as well as the holding of massive shows or crowds of people within a radius of fewer than 200 meters from the places where the centers operate. Voting.
In this Sunday’s election, the Paraguayans will designate the successor to President Mario Abdo Benítez from the ruling Colorado Party.
They will also vote to elect their vice president, the members of Congress, the governors of the 17 departments of the country, and the members of the departmental boards.
Colorado has governed the country for the last seven decades -except during the now progressive senator Fernando Lugo’s (2008-2012) government- is risking its continuity in power before a coalition of left-wing movements and parties, the National Concertation, headed by Alegre.
The polls that circulated in the previous days through social networks anticipated a technical tie between Peña and Alegre. In addition, the Paraguayan candidate Cubas, who defines himself as anti-system, appeared in third place.
Before the opening of the tables, the Superior Court of Electoral Justice (TSJE) invited citizens to participate in elections that do not have a second round in this country.
“We are ready to live and enjoy a great civic day. We invite citizens to go out and vote, to participate with democratic conviction, which is already a tradition in the Republic of Paraguay,” said the president of the TSJE, Jorge Bogarín, who celebrated that “the great day has arrived.”
Mario Abdo Benítez, accompanied by his Minister of the Interior, cast his vote at the beginning of the day in a school in Asunción.
