Paraguayans yesterday headed to the polls in what could be the biggest electoral challenge to the ruling conservative Colorado Party in more than a decade, and with the country’s near 70-year ties with Taiwan potentially at stake.
The landlocked South American country of fewer than 7 million people started voting from 7am. Lawyer Efrain Alegre, 60, of the Concertacion center-left coalition is leading narrowly in opinion polls amid a recent anti-incumbency trend in Latin American elections.
His main challenger is Santiago Pena, a 44-year-old economist and former finance minister hoping to continue the rule of the Colorado Party, which has governed almost continually since 1947 — through a dictatorship and since the return of democracy in 1989, but has been hit by a slowing economy and graft allegations.
Photo: CNA
“I want change, yes, but not with Colorado, because it’s been them for over 70 years and we are suffering,” said Miriam Sanabria, a food vendor in Asuncion. “We need work, better security and free medicine at hospitals.”
In the streets and news debates, the political buildup has been dominated by the economy, corruption allegations and the candidates’ views on Taiwan. Taiwan only has 13 diplomatic allies.
Alegre has criticized Paraguay’s diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which have made it hard to sell soy and beef to China, a major global buyer, and has said that the Latin American farm-driven economy does not get enough in return from Taipei.
Pena has said he would maintain ties with Taiwan.
Nearly 5 million people were registered to vote in yesterday’s single-round winner-takes all presidential race. Paraguayans are also electing members of Congress and governors. The first results are expected from about 7pm.
In final campaign events, Alegre took aim at corruption charges that have dogged Colorado Party leader Horacio Cartes, who was sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury this year.
He called him the “Pablo Escobar of Paraguay.”
Cartes denies the allegations.
Pena acknowledged party divisions in his closing ceremony speech and promised to be “a symbol of party unity.”
Additional reporting by AFP
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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