Governing party loses ground (and Asuncion) in Paraguayan municipal elections.
| Autor | Gaudin, Andres |
Routine local elections held in Paraguay last month resulted in something of a national plebiscite that could help redraw the country's political map. Analysts and political scientists agree that the results were first and foremost a defeat for President Haracio Cartes, whose Partido Colorado (PC), also known as the Asociacion Nacional Republicana (ANR), lost 108 of the 250 municipal districts in play. But they also see the elections as damaging to ex-President Fernando Lugo (2008-2012), who was ousted in a palace coup in June 2012, and to journalist Mario Ferreiro, winner of the mayoral contest in Asuncion, Paraguay's capital city and largest electoral district.
For Cartes, the setback was a particularly heavy blow given the role he unnecessarily assigned himself as the PC's national campaign chief. Once again, the conservative leader demonstrated his shortcomings as a statesman. Lugo, for his part, erred by deciding, for selfish reasons, not to support Ferreiro. He was the only opposition figure to do so. And Ferreiro failed by limiting his scope to local issues, focusing only on Asuncion and remaining skeptical about the left's chances of recovering the national leadership role it lost in 2012 (NotiSur, July 13, 2012).
The Nov. 15 elections attracted only about 40% of eligible voters, a record low in the short democratic history of the country, which was controlled between 1954 and 1989 by the dictatorship of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner.
The biggest prize, the mayorship of Asuncion, went to Ferreiro, who won 51% of the votes compared to 41% for the governing party candidate Arnaldo Samaniego, a close ally of Cartes and the brother of Lilian Samaniego, the PC's immovable party president. The contest cost Cartes both figuratively and literally--he personally funded Samaniego's campaign. Lugo, by choosing not to support the winner, also paid dearly. In Asuncion, the left wing Frente Guasu coalition--from which he stepped down as president three days after the election--took just 4.5% of the vote.
The PC also struggled in the rest of the Central department, where the capital is located, losing 13 of the area's 19 municipalities, which together represent about a quarter of Paraguay's approximately 4 million eligible voters. The leaders of the opposition Partido Liberal Radical Autentico (PLRA), who facilitated Ferreiro's candidacy by "loaning" him their party structure, are now beginning to wonder if they can forge a similar alliance for the 2018...
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