The Colorado Party accumulates all power in Paraguay

The president-elect of the Colorado Party, Santiago Peña, celebrates after his victory at his campaign headquarters, in Asunción, on April 30. Raúl Martínez (EFE)

The Paraguayan Colorado Party did it again.

This Sunday, he won the presidency with almost 43% of the vote against the collapse of a fractured opposition.

The Colorados have been in power for more than 70 years and know very well how to win elections.

The conservative Santiago Peña will occupy the Palacio de López until 2028 and for the first time will enjoy full control of both houses of Congress.

The Partico Colorado also took over 15 of the country's 17 governorships.

The presidency of this 44-year-old economist, with a liberal past and no red lineage, will have no political counterweights: But even so, he will face great challenges.

The main one is to distance himself from his mentor, former President Horacio Cartes, accused by the United States of having ties to organized crime.

Resetting the relationship with Washington will be essential for his government.

In domestic politics, not much is expected, because Peña has barely offered any promise of greater equity.

His proposals have been limited to distributing more State resources among the poorest, in a country where inequality is felt in the streets.

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The Colorado Party of Paraguay confirms its electoral power and retains the presidency

The causes of the Colorado triumph are multiple.

The first and most obvious is that in Paraguay there is no second round and you can win even if 57% of the electorate votes against you, as on this occasion and the two previous ones.

“It was also underestimated that the Colorado Party has been using the State apparatus for 70 years and creating clientelist networks that have not been interrupted,” says Sara Villalba, a doctor in political processes from the University of Salamanca.

The second cause has been the decision of the Colorado Party to settle its internal fights once in power.

The fight between Cartes and the current president, Mario Abdo, heads of two warring factions, will be resolved with Peña in the presidency.

A third factor was the US decision to charge Cartes.

On Sunday night, Peña spoke to his supporters gathered outside the Party headquarters in Asunción.

He promised unity, but, above all, he made it clear that his political boss is Cartes.

He thanked him for the fact that in 2013, when he was a powerful tobacco businessman with no political affiliation, he had "rescued the Colorados from the plains", beaten after the triumph of ex-bishop Fernando Lugo in 2008. "And this time," he said, "uniting the red family”.

He then got off the stage and went to a television program that is a regular meeting point for Paraguayan politicians.

Mina Feliciangeli, the host, was outraged by the sanctions against Cartes, while she ranted without filters against "the meddling of the United States in Paraguayan democracy."

How Peña will manage the relationship with Cartes will be key.

Peña is an economist, worked at the International Monetary Fund and was Minister of Finance under Cartes.

Like the former president, he joined the Colorado Party in a hurry so as not to lose his position.

His liberal past was a hard nut to swallow for the movement's thoroughbreds, who finally gave in to the evidence that there was no better candidate.

The opposition fragmentation did the rest for the victory to be total.

“Historically, the Party has worked with a pro-government line and an opposition line,” explains Sara Villalba.

“That internal division that continues, despite the triumph, normally manifests itself during the government period.

You have to see how the traditional party leaders who did not support Peña behave, ”she says.

In this scenario of tension, says Rocío Duarte, "they must find a balance between distancing themselves sufficiently from the figure of Cartes, so as not to appear linked to organized crime, but without alienating those loyal to Cartes who were also elected."

It is in this balance that the total administration of power that the new Government will have in Parliament will be settled.

The Colorados had never reached a majority in the Senate, which functioned as the last firewall against pro-government projects "even undemocratic," says Sara Villalba.

“This new concentration of power will be a challenge for Paraguayan democracy.

It will be a matter of seeing how the different colorado factions behave, ”she warns.

The priority will then be to order the internal front and, at the same time, rebuild the relationship with the United States after the sanctions against Cartes.

If Washington ever calls for the ex-president's extradition, Peña will be faced with a major dilemma.

He has a winning card there, as is the old diplomatic relationship that unites Paraguay with Taiwan.

The South American country is the only one in the region that recognizes the island and receives in exchange preferential trade treatment, the approval of Washington and the repudiation of China.

Peña already said during the campaign that "Paraguay must develop its own muscle before it can deepen trade relations with a country like China."

He is facing pressure from the powerful Paraguayan agro-industrial sector, which wants to access that food-hungry market.

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