Paraguay: Santiago Peña Wins Election

Facts

• Economist and former finance minister under Pres. Horacio Cartes, Santiago Peña, has won Paraguay's general election, continuing the conservative Colorado Party's seven-decade-long reign. He defeated Efrain Alegrem of the left-wing Concertacion coalition by 15 percentage points.¹
• The Concertacion coalition received roughly 27.5% of the vote after having led in opinion polls, with the left-wing loss going against the recent trend of anti-incumbency, left-wing wins in Latin America.²
• Peña has said he will create 500K jobs, offer free kindergarten, decrease fuel and energy prices, and put more police officers on the street. To achieve this, he said Paraguay, which has a poverty rate of 25%, must eliminate red tape and keep taxes among the lowest in the world.³
• In opposition to Alegrem, Peña pledged to remain in alliance with Taiwan over China. With that, he now faces the challenges of boosting Paraguay's farm-driven economy, shrinking a major fiscal deficit, and navigating rising pressures from soy and beef producers to tilt away from Taiwan in favor of China.⁴
• In another contentious foreign relations rift, Peña has also said he would move Paraguay's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. On social issues, he defends his anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage stances, beliefs he calls traditional family values.⁵
• Alongside Peña, who won 43% of votes with almost all votes counted in the preliminary round, the Colorado Party won 15 of the 17 governorships up for election and received majorities in both the Senate and the lower house.⁶

Sources: ¹Al Jazeera, ²Barrons, ³New York Times, ⁴CNBC, ⁵France 24, and ⁶Breitbart.

Narratives

• Left narrative, as provided by Guardian. A win for the Colorado Party continues the failed status quo of Paraguay. After its 35-year dictatorship, the Colorado Party — which played a role in the nation's authoritarian past — took power and has been bankrolling its government through the personal wealth of Horacio Cartes. Though the two campaigns differed on little other than the Taiwan issue, it's likely that Peña will continue to be beholden to the corrupt system held in place since 1989.
• Right narrative, as provided by Breitbart. Though the world had some difficulty with the Cartes presidency, Peña is a fresh face with an eagerness to build Paraguay's standing in the world. This is why the US, as well as neighbors like Brazil, congratulated the winner and told him they look forward to working with him. Peña offered similar economic promises to Alegrem, and the Taiwan issue shouldn't be that controversial given its 60-year relationship with Paraguay and shared democratic principles.