Paraguay’s Santiago Pena wins presidential election, ensuring strong ties with Taiwan
- Paraguayans elect a president from the rightwing party that has been in power for nearly eight decades
- President-elect Santiago Pena has pledged to maintain the status quo of recognising Taipei over Beijing
Paraguay’s ruling candidate Santiago Pena, 44, scored a big win in the country’s presidential election on Sunday, tightening the conservative Colorado Party’s political grip in the country and defusing fears about the end of diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Pena, who has pledged to maintain Paraguay’s long-standing Taiwan relations, had 42.7 per cent of the vote with over 99 per cent of ballots counted, a more than 15-point lead over centre-left rival Efrain Alegre, who has argued for switching allegiance to China.
“Thank you for this Colorado victory, thank you for this Paraguayan victory,” Pena said in a speech. Alegre acknowledged the result. Current President Mario Abdo Benitez congratulated Pena as “president-elect”, as did the leaders of Brazil and Argentina.
Colorado and right-wing party candidates also performed strongly in congressional elections and governor races, with some provinces recording a historic Colorado majority over opposition rivals.
The election result leaves Pena facing a challenge to rev up Paraguay’s farm-driven economy, shrink a major fiscal deficit and navigate rising pressures from soy and beef producers to ditch Taiwan in favour of China and its huge markets.
“We have a lot to do, after the last years of economic stagnation, of fiscal deficit, the task that awaits us is not for a single person or for a party,” Pena said in his victory speech, calling for “unity and consensus”.