Asunción (EFE) liberal opponent Efraín Alegre.
From 7:00 a.m. local time (11:00 GMT) and 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 complaints from political party leaders about the location of the polling stations, which did not go any 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 less than 200 meters from the places where the centers operate. voting.
The successor in the Presidency in the elections in Paraguay
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.
Coloradismo, which has governed the country for the last seven decades -except during the government of the now progressive senator Fernando Lugo (2008-2012)-, 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.
The message of Abdo Benítez
The president of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez, called on his compatriots to vote and be protagonists “in building the future” of the nation.
“The more participation there is, the more the electoral process is legitimized and the elected authorities come out with more force,” said the president shortly after casting his vote in a college in Asunción.
In this context, he invited to take care of the country and indicated that, despite the difficulties that it has like any Latin American society.
Paraguay “is internationally recognized as a country that has been building macroeconomic strength, predictability” and has a democracy that “has been consolidating.”
“Today is further proof of everything that has been built with so much sacrifice and we have to take care of that, because this country has enormous potential,” he defended.
“Every vote of every Paraguayan and every Paraguayan counts”
The candidate of the ruling Colorado Party for the Presidency of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, assured, before the opening of the day of the general elections, that “every vote of every Paraguayan and every Paraguayan counts”.
“Today we define a country model, we choose if we want a Paraguay that will bet more on its human capital or we will again lose the enormous opportunity to grow by promoting the economic and social well-being of our people,” said the former economist, from the headquarters of the Colorado Party , in Asunción.
In a message read before the press, followers, and the head of Coloradism, former President Horacio Cartes (2013-2018), assured that on this day “a Paraguay that plans its future to take the great leap we need or a country that navigates in improvisation”.
“We choose between a Paraguay where, with a capable and efficient government, the economy improves and we all have a better time in the next five years, or a country where the agenda and efforts are focused on generating divisions and the desire for power for power” , added the red candidate.
Invitation to vote in the general elections in Paraguay
Prior to the opening of the tables, the Superior Court of Electoral Justice (TSJE) invited citizens to participate in elections that in this country do not have a second round.
“We are ready to live and enjoy a great civic day. We invite the public to go out and vote, to participate with democratic conviction, which is already a tradition in the Republic of Paraguay”, affirmed 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.