santiago penacandidate of the Colorado Party, has been elected this Sunday Paraguayan new president with 43% of the votes. “They placed their trust in our hands so that tomorrow we can be better and we will be better. We are all morally obliged to play a role in the place that touches us, only then can we successfully face poverty, corruption and impunity”, the president-elect has asserted.

What a pity has surpassed its main rival by more than 15 percentage points In the elections, Efraín Alegre -who has obtained the support of 27% of the electorate-, has thanked the people for trusting in his “conciliatory and patriotic” project, as well as the politicians who have accompanied him, with special mention to the head of his campaign, former president Horacio Cartes, who is under investigation for corruption.

“Horacio, I admire the immensity of your qualified obstinacy for the fate of the Colorado Party. That time, rescuing it from the plain, this time uniting the Colorado family, strengthening its fronts and refounding the concept of a party at the service of the free man,” he has declared in his speech after the electoral victory.

On the other hand, Peña has highlighted the three axes with which he is committed for his term: social peace, dialogue and reconciliation with the authorities, at the same time that he has recognized that he has a great challenge in terms of the economy and security of the country. “I call for unity and consensus to achieve our destiny of collective well-being and prosperity without exclusions. The time has come to postpone our differences to prioritize the common causes that unite us as a nation”, he declared.

The hegemony of the Colorado Party continues

The candidacy of Peña, former Minister of Finance, has been a commitment to continuity in the country, since the National Republican Association (ARN), known as Colorado Party, has ruled Paraguay virtually without interruption for more than seven decades.

In front of him was the already three-time candidate Ephraim Alegrewho was Minister of Public Works during the only progressive term in Paraguay’s recent history, that of Fernando Lugo, and who has led the Concertación, a coalition with progressive forces in which he appealed for change, promising reforms to bring issues such as health, education or the internet closer to broad sectors of society.

Alegre, after the electoral result, has accepted his defeat, although he has not explicitly congratulated his opponent, and has called for unity in the opposition for the next elections: “We are going to continue working (…) the citizens tell us that united we are the majority, a task that remains pending for the Concertación is to find a formula that allows us to continue fighting”, he has sentenced.

Compliments from other leaders

The outgoing president of the country, Mario Abdo, has quickly congratulated “the Paraguayan people for their great participation” and the “elect president”. From outside its borders, the Uruguayan president, Luis Lacalle, has transferred his congratulations to Peña, noting that he will continue working with his neighbor to complement both economies. “We hope to jointly strengthen our region to open up to the world,” she added.

For his part, the Argentine Alberto Fernandezwho has congratulated the president-elect by phone on “his victory”, has wished “a great future” for this “brotherly people”: “Latin America must unite, integration is the way”, he has sentenced.

Also the Brazilian leader, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, congratulated Peña on his electoral victory and wished him good luck during his tenure. “Let’s work together for increasingly better and stronger relations between our countries, and for a South America with more unity, development and prosperity”, he proposed.

His Chilean counterpart, gabriel borichas also expressed himself along these lines: “Let’s continue working together to strengthen relations between our countries and all of Latin America,” he claimed after congratulating Peña and the voters.

Bolivian President, Luis Arce, has stressed that his victory “reaffirms the strength and democratic maturity of Latin America.” Ecuadorian President William Lasso, has congratulated “the Paraguayan people for an exemplary civic journey, as should be the spirit of Latin American democracies.” Meanwhile, the leader of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammatteihas wished “the best of successes” to the president-elect, stating that “in Guatemala he finds a friend and ally.”

Also the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, has congratulated Peña on his victory in the presidential elections. “Let’s continue working to further strengthen the excellent relationship between our countries,” he said in a tweet after learning of his victory. “Spain counts on Paraguay to strengthen the link between Latin America and the Caribbean with the European Union”, he added.