Paraguay 2013

[RodPresident]

How many of Alegre voters were Lugo supporters willing to stop Cartes? Maybe 1/3.

[Famous Mortimer]

How many of Alegre voters were Lugo supporters willing to stop Cartes? Maybe 1/3.

Eh, the left has never been that strong in Paraguay. It seems like Lugo benefited from Liberal support in the last election more than the Liberals benefited from Lugo.

[batmacumba]

Paraguay is dangerously crumbling to a French level of corruption and political mayhem...

Guys, you have absolutely no clue about Paraguay...

Sometimes, It seems that the main reason of its existence is to make us, the other countries around, feel not that sorry for ourselves.

You realise it was a joke, right ?

Oh! Thank you for telling me! I just wasn't aware yet that  Asunción's mayor was using the city's public servants to take care of his Garden...

How many of Alegre voters were Lugo supporters willing to stop Cartes? Maybe 1/3.

Eh, the left has never been that strong in Paraguay. It seems like Lugo benefited from Liberal support in the last election more than the Liberals benefited from Lugo.

Definitly. It would be unthinkable otherwise.

[Sir John Johns]

How many of Alegre voters were Lugo supporters willing to stop Cartes? Maybe 1/3.

Eh, the left has never been that strong in Paraguay. It seems like Lugo benefited from Liberal support in the last election more than the Liberals benefited from Lugo.

Basically, this.


Both Alegre and Ferreiro acknowledged their defeat. However, Ferreiro underlined that the left became the third political force in Paraguay. Beloved Fatherland and the UNACE are decimated. The Colorado Party win every governorship except the department of Amambay which is won by the Liberal Party.

Seats in the Senate according to a Ati Snead poll:
ANR-Colorado Party 20
Authentic Radical Liberal Party 13
Avanza Pais 4
Frente Guasú 3
UNACE 2
Beloved Fatherland Movement 1
Democratic Progressive Party 1
National Encounter Party 1

Combined left at 9 seats.

Another poll however give:
ANR-Colorado Party 23
Authentic Radical Liberal Party 15
Avanza Pais 2
Frente Guasú 2
UNACE 1
Beloved Fatherland Movement 1
Democratic Progressive Party 1
National Encounter Party 0
So, an absolute majority for the Colorado Party. Combined left at 5 seats.

Official results can be found on the site of the Justicia Electoral: http://tsje.gov.py

Don't know if it had an incidence on the vote (probably not), but yesterday a policeman was killed in an ambush by the far-left guerilla of the Paraguayan People's Army.

[Famous Mortimer]

Anybody know what the hell Beloved Fatherland stands/stood for?

I remember when they did really well in 2003, the NYT ran an article attempting to lump them in with the red wave.

More recently I only see them referenced to as conservative but with few further details.

I'm also surprised they ran someone other than Pedro Fadul, as I assumed it was just based around him.

[Famous Mortimer]

Also, to be a bit nitpick-y, the Democratic Progressive Party and the National Encounter Party are satellites of the Liberals now. As I pointed out earlier in the thread, the PPD leader was the Liberal VP candidate.

Probably shouldn't group them as part of a third force.

[RodPresident]

Will UNACE rejoin Colorado Party or keep as small party? Oviedo children would be willing to run in 2018.

[Peeperkorn]

Winner is a Tobacco entrepeneur and an homophobic.

My country is on trial with Phillip Morris and has homosexual rights as a core in its International Relations, so I think that Paraguay will only have good relations with the corrupt Kirchner goverment in Argentina.

What hurts me more is that the "Colorados" in Paraguay are ultra-conservative elites, while in my country we have a Colorado party which is social liberal (I'm a part of it).

Paraguay = Joke Country.

[Famous Mortimer]

The corrupt Kirchner regime had gay marriage before your country did.

[MaxQue]

The corrupt Kirchner regime had gay marriage before your country did.

And Minnesota still haven't.

[Velasco]

The corrupt Kirchner regime had gay marriage before your country did.

And Minnesota still haven't.

For what reason? Is Minnesota a corrupt regime as well, or simply a gay-unfriendly one?

Anybody know what the hell Beloved Fatherland stands/stood for?

I remember when they did really well in 2003, the NYT ran an article attempting to lump them in with the red wave.

More recently I only see them referenced to as conservative but with few further details.

I'm also surprised they ran someone other than Pedro Fadul, as I assumed it was just based around him.

If the NYT labelled that Beloved Fatherland as part of any 'red wave', I think it's only a clear sign of the ignorance which US and Western media treat politics in Latin America. Pedro Fadul is an entrepreneur like Horacio Cortés, though it seems that he sold a successful company on the financial market to devote himself to poltics. What the Spanish Wiki says is that Fadul is religious, president of a Catholic entrepreneur's association and presumably a social conservative, and has collaborated with the Church in some charitable foundations and initiatives. Also he's a charter member of the Paraguayan subsidiary of Transparency International. I'd say that Beloved Fatherland, clearly Fadul's personal vehicle, is economically liberal, socially conservative and advocates for fighting corruption. So probably it's a right-wing or center-right (populist or personalist as well) party opposed to the Colorados.

The Beloved Fatherland Party was previously a Foundation, called now Fundación Feliciano Martínez, honouring a deceased Paraguayan mayor. You can see a brief hagiography of the Loco Martínez here. Fadul is the bearded man in the photo that portrays the article.

http://patriaquerida.org/feliciano.html

[MaxQue]

The corrupt Kirchner regime had gay marriage before your country did.

And Minnesota still haven't.

For what reason? Is Minnesota a corrupt regime as well, or simply a gay-unfriendly one?

It elected a Republican legislature in 2010, which tried to pass a constitutional gay marriage ban, which failed at November 2012 elections, while Republicans were booted out of the legislature (they had been quite incompetant). So, there is hope and there is a bill on the subject progressing in the legislature.

[Sir John Johns]

Also, to be a bit nitpick-y, the Democratic Progressive Party and the National Encounter Party are satellites of the Liberals now. As I pointed out earlier in the thread, the PPD leader was the Liberal VP candidate.

Probably shouldn't group them as part of a third force.

Yeah, you're right. Both supported Lugo's candidacy in 2008 and claimed being left-wing, but there is now a huge rift between the Liberal Party and the Lugoists. Lugo said that the Liberals were punished for their "betrayal" and for having impeached him. I don't know if Frente Guasú and Avanza Pais will worked together. There is no indication about which parties will cooperated with the Colorado Party which hadn't a majority in Senate of its own).

Legislative results (with 90% of the votes counted):

Senate
ANR-Colorado Party 19 (+4)
Authentic Radical Liberal Party 12 (-2)
Frente Guasú 5 (+3)*
Democratic Progressive Party 3 (+2)
Avanza Pais 2 (+2)
UNACE 2 (-7)
National Encounter Party 1 (+1)
Beloved Fatherland Movement 1 (-3)

Chamber of Deputies
ANR-Colorado Party 44 (+10)
Authentic Radical Liberal Party 26 (-3)
UNACE 2 (-9)
Avanza Pais 2 (+2)
National Encounter Party 2 (+2)
Beloved Fatherland Movement 1 (-3)
Frente Guasú 1 (=)*
Alianza Pasión Chaqueña 1 (+1)
Democratic Progressive Party 0 (-1)
to be allocated 1

*compared to the 2008 results of the parties now part of Frente Guasú.

source: http://www.abc.com.py/nacionales/mayoria-simple-colorada-563985.html

An interesting article about vote-buying in Paraguay. Politicians purchase not only the vote but also the abstention at a price of at least 12.5$. On the eve of the election, parties' militants were given identity card in exchange of money. The ID card are given back after the poll. Some voters have now several ID cards so they can made more money (I guess they're sell their abstention to other parties).

[Sir John Johns]

Vice president of the Tribunal Superior de Justicia Electoral Juan Manuel Morales was excluded from the vote counting and the announcement of the results process. He had previously been criticized by the head of OAS observer mission, former Costa Rican president Oscar Arias, for having called Alegre to acknowledge his defeat before the polls closed. Observers also denounced the publication of exit polls before the end of the vote.

The Colorado Party win every governorship except the department of Amambay which is won by the Liberal Party.

Apparently, exit polls were wrong. PLRA won the governorship of Central Department, the most populous department made-up of Asunción peripherical region.. PLRA also won Ñeembucú and has a very slim lead over Colorado Party in Amambay. It managed to keep the liberal-leaning department of Cordillera by only 416 votes (source). I can't find the results of gubernatorial races on the Justicia Electoral site.

Some news concerning the vote-buying case. Gregorio Garay, the PLRA local leader who videotapped Silvio Ovelar while negotiating a vote-buying cannot be found. His Volkswagen Gol was found totally burned. The police had been previously order to find Garay in order to protect him from possible vendetta but it may be a little late.

The Colorado Party apparently wants to summon a Constituent Assembly. Several parties, notably the PLRA and Avanza Pais, have indicated they could summon a Constituent Assembly if elected. The PLRA had discussed over the possibility of the introduction of a run-off system while Avanza Pais had proposed to include recall referendum in the Constitution. But the big deal is apparently the reform of the judicial function which is heavily criticized for its inefficiency and for the way its members are appointed. One problem (illustrated by the Juan Manuel Morales case) is the politicization of the judges.

A PLRA Senator-elect attributed the defeat of his party to:

• the transference of UNACE vote to the Colorado Party rather than to the Liberal Party
• Cartes' ability to attract independent voters
• the various scandals that plagued incumbent administration, notably the dubious sell of lands involving the UNACE speaker of Senate.

On the other hand, he denied any incidence of Lugo's impeachment by the PLRA on the vote.

[Sir John Johns]

More news from Sopranolandia:

Carlos Artaza, a journalist was murdered yesterday in the Department of Amambay. Unknown persons opened fire on his car while he was travelling in the city of Pedro Juan Caballero, the capital of Amambay and a hotbed of trafficking of all kinds (the city is in the border area with Brazil). Artaza was a press aide to PLRA deputy Pedro González who was elected governor of Amambay last Sunday and he was returning from a party to celebrate González's victory when he was shot.

Later, another journalist, the ABC Color local correspondent in Pedro Juan Caballero, received telephone death threats.

Even if the police had no clue for now, the ABC Color seems to link the murder to the political climate in Amambay. The local Liberal Party was deaply divided as Governor-elect Pedro González is at odds with the Liberal candidate for Senate Robert Acevedo. Acevedo claimed that González is supported by drug traffickers and that Artaza was responsible for providing prostitutes to several senators. He also purported that the the newly elect Colorado deputy for Amambay, Marcial Lezcano, was recently seen in the company of the brother of Carlos Rubén Sánchez "Chicharõ", a drug baron wanted both by Brazil and Paraguay. According to this article, Chicharõ openly campaigned in favor of Lezcano. This last is however despicted in the article as a politician linked to Acevedo despite the fact that both are members of a different party. Chicharõ or his brother (I don't understand this part of the article) was alternate member from the list of Lezcano.

When asked about Acevedo's allegations, Pedro González said that Acevedo is mentally disordered and denied any links with drug-traffic. He stated that Artaza hadn't any enemy and was a respected journalist. The photo accompanying the article show González's own car with bullet holes, after being attacked in March 2012.

Some have also highlighted that the murder of Artaza have occured two days before the anniversary date of the assassination of journalist Santiago Leguizamón, which was murdered in Pedro Juan Caballero by drug-traffickers on April 26th, 1991.

[batmacumba]

What hurts me more is that the "Colorados" in Paraguay are ultra-conservative elites, while in my country we have a Colorado party which is social liberal (I'm a part of it).

Mmmm... There's this word in my subconscient, just coming and going: Bordaberry
I'm trying to remember what it means.

More news from Sopranolandia:

This is what makes Pawaguay such a problematic country. I know from where all those bogus products come (well, China, OK, the correct word should be through, not from) and where my stolen car is. They're also one of the greatest cigarette exporters on the world, despite they don't plant tobacco neither have industrial facilities to produce any of those...

[RodPresident]

Bordaberry was Uruguayan, but his Colorado party is somewhat opposite to Paraguayan Colorado Party. Uruguayan Colorado Party was representative of urban elites of Uruguay and his take-over of power was one of reasons of Paraguayan War. Their equivalent would be Liberal Party in Paraguay. National Party (Blancos) are more linked to Uruguayan landowners, but they had to appeal to left to be competitive against long time domination of colorados in Uruguayan politics. Pepe Mujica was member of National Party in his youth.