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80 seats in the Chamber of Deputies 45 seats in the Senate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Paraguayportal |
General elections were held in Paraguay on 9 May 1993. [1] They were the first free elections in the country's 182-year history, [2] the first with no military candidates since 1928, [3] and the first since the adoption of a new constitution the previous summer. The presidential election was the first regular presidential election since the overthrow of longtime leader Alfredo Stroessner in 1989; incumbent Andrés Rodríguez was in office by virtue of winning a special election for the remainder of Stroessner's eighth term.
Rodríguez had promised not to run for re-election for a full term, and was prevented from doing so by the new constitution, which barred a sitting president from re-election even if they had only served a partial term. [4] Juan Carlos Wasmosy of the Colorado Party won the presidential election with 41.8 percent of the vote. He took office on 15 August, becoming the first civilian to hold the post in 39 years.
The Colorado Party remained the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, but lost the absolute majority it had held since 1963. The opposition Authentic Radical Liberal Party and National Encounter Party together held a majority of the seats in both chambers, later supplemented by the Colorado Reconciliation Movement, which broke away from the Colorado Party. [5] Voter turnout was 69.0% in the presidential elections, 67.6% in the Chamber elections and 69.4% in the Senate elections. [6]
The elections were not entirely peaceful. On election day, an opposition television channel was raked by gunfire, and government officials cut the phone lines of opposition parties and independent election monitors. However, the phone lines were restored after intervention from Jimmy Carter. [7] Despite confirmed cases of fraud, independent analysts concluded that the fraudulent activity had no effect on the outcome, and that Wasmosy's eight-point margin of victory was large enough to offset any illicit activity. Carter's team of international observers noted that opposition candidates tallied almost 60 percent of the vote between them. [2]
Previously, there had been only two years of liberal democracy in Paraguay before the 1989 coup. For much of that time, opposition had been barely tolerated, even when it was nominally legal. Even after Stroessner lifted a three-decade state of siege in 1987, opposition parties and newspapers continued to be suppressed, often brutally. [8] In this climate, Stroessner had won all six of his contested bids for president (he appeared alone on the ballot in 1954 and 1958) with 70 percent or more of the vote, only dropping below 80 percent once.
Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Juan Carlos Wasmosy | Colorado Party | 449,505 | 41.78 | |
Domingo Laíno | Authentic Radical Liberal Party | 357,164 | 33.20 | |
Guillermo Caballero Vargas | National Encounter Party | 262,407 | 24.39 | |
Ricardo Nicolás Canese Krivoshein | Social Democratic Coalition (PDC–PHP) | 1,601 | 0.15 | |
Eduardo María Arce Schaerer | Workers' Party | 1,536 | 0.14 | |
Joel Atilio Cazal | Broad Movement National Participation | 1,104 | 0.10 | |
Leandro Jesus Prieto Yegros | Social Political Movement Progressive | 1,087 | 0.10 | |
Abraham Zapag Bazas | Liberal Party | 881 | 0.08 | |
Gustavo Bader Ibáñez | Socialist National Party | 655 | 0.06 | |
Total | 1,075,940 | 100.00 | ||
Valid votes | 1,075,940 | 91.18 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 104,142 | 8.82 | ||
Total votes | 1,180,082 | 100.00 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 1,698,984 | 69.46 | ||
Source: Justicia Electoral |
Party | Votes | % | Seats | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Colorado Party | 498,586 | 44.05 | 20 | |
Authentic Radical Liberal Party | 409,728 | 36.20 | 17 | |
National Encounter Party | 203,213 | 17.95 | 8 | |
Other parties | 20,411 | 1.80 | 0 | |
Total | 1,131,938 | 100.00 | 45 | |
Valid votes | 1,131,938 | 96.05 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 46,504 | 3.95 | ||
Total votes | 1,178,442 | 100.00 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 1,698,984 | 69.36 | ||
Source: Nohlen |
Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Colorado Party | 488,342 | 43.41 | 38 | –10 | |
Authentic Radical Liberal Party | 414,208 | 36.82 | 33 | +12 | |
National Encounter Party | 199,053 | 17.70 | 9 | New | |
Other parties [lower-alpha 1] | 23,275 | 2.07 | 0 | – | |
Total | 1,124,878 | 100.00 | 80 | +8 | |
Valid votes | 1,124,878 | 96.01 | |||
Invalid/blank votes | 46,805 | 3.99 | |||
Total votes | 1,171,683 | 100.00 | |||
Registered voters/turnout | 1,698,984 | 68.96 | |||
Source: Nohlen |
Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda was a Paraguayan army officer, politician, statesman, and President of Paraguay from 15 August 1954 to 3 February 1989. Stroessner led a coup d'état on 4 May 1954 with the support of the army and the Colorado Party, with which he was affiliated. After a brief provisional government headed by Tomás Romero Pereira, he was the Colorado Party's presidential candidate for the 1954 general election, and was elected unopposed since all other parties were banned from 1947 to 1962.
Andrés Rodríguez Pedotti was a military officer and politician, being President of Paraguay from February 3, 1989, to August 15, 1993. He led the coup d'état on February 2 and 3, 1989, against the dictator Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda.
Óscar Nicanor Duarte Frutos is a Paraguayan politician who served as President of Paraguay from 2003 to 2008. In 2013, President Horacio Cartes appointed Duarte as Ambassador to Argentina, a diplomatic posting he held from 2013 until 2016. Duarte currently holds the title of Senator for life.
The National Republican Association – Colorado Party is a conservative political party in Paraguay, founded on 11 September 1887 by Bernardino Caballero. Since 1947, the Colorado party has been dominant in Paraguayan politics, ruling as the only legal party between 1947 and 1962, and has controlled the presidency since 1948 notwithstanding a brief interruption between 2008 and 2013. With almost 2 million members, it is the largest political party in the country.
The Authentic Radical Liberal Party is a centre-left liberal and radical political party in Paraguay. The party is a full member of Liberal International. The liberales, as they are known, are the leading opposition to the dominant conservative Colorado Party. They have taken this position since the end of the Alfredo Stroessner dictatorship in 1989. They are the political successors of the Liberal Party, which traces its history back to 10 July 1887.
Juan Carlos Wasmosy Monti was the president of Paraguay from August 15, 1993, until August 15, 1998. He was a member of the Colorado Party, and the country's first freely elected president, as well as the first civilian president in 39 years.
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The National Encounter Party is a political party in Paraguay.
The Liberal Party, commonly known as the Blue Party, was a political party in Paraguay, ruling the country for most of the period between 1904 and 1940.
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Domingo Isabelino Laíno Figueredo is a Paraguayan politician, economist, and activist. The first leader of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party, a Senator, and a former Member of the Chamber of Deputies, Laino first became known for his opposition to the Stroessner dictatorship: in 1956, he was arrested for having publicly opposed the arrest of university students. In the years that followed, he was arrested so many times that he "lost count".
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On 31 March 2017, a series of protests began in Paraguay, during which demonstrators set fire to the Congress building. The demonstrations occurred in response to a constitutional amendment that would permit President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election, a move described by the opposition as "a coup". One protester was killed in Paraguay's capital, Asunción, after being hit by a shotgun blast by police. Several protesters, politicians and journalists, as well as police, were reported injured, including one lower-house deputy who had to undergo surgery after being injured by rubber bullets. On 17 April, President Cartes announced that he was resigning from any possible candidacy for a second presidential term. On 26 April, the Chamber of Deputies of Paraguay rejected the proposed constitutional amendment for presidential re-election.
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