Paraguayans go to the polls to elect a new president

Paraguay will hold general elections this Sundaythe eighth since the end of the long-term dictatorship of Alfred Stroessner (1954-1989), in which he will decide between continuity or a change in power.

He Colorado Conservative Partywho ruled the country for almost seven decades, attends this vote with former minister Santiago Peña as your candidate.

On its part, National agreementwhich gathers most of the opposition forces, advocates for liberal Efrain Alegrein his third attempt to reach the Presidency.

He also postulated election competition Paraguayan anti-establishment candidate Kubas, National Crusading Parties; he Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Euclides Acevedoof the New Republic political movement, i exporter Jose Luis Chilavertof young people The power of young people.

He Higher Election Court (TSJE) This Saturday, he conducted a test of 15,380 electronic voting machines already installed in 1,157 polling stations in 17 departments in the country.

“Paraguay is ready and I want to say with great pride that the Paraguayan people are ready to choose,” he declared TSJE President Jorge Bogarín.

The official emphasized that the voting system “is safe, it is reliable” and from the electorate they “anticipate all the possibilities that could exist” during the procedure.

Bogarín said he was very “excited” less than 24 hours before national elections.

In this context, he predicted it results can be announced around 20:00 local time (18:00 Panama time).

For his part, he Command for Monitoring and Transmission of Election Results (CV-TRE) ruling party Colorado also declared itself “ready” for election day.

“We hope that tomorrow, April 30, will be another day of many that the Paraguayan people are used to,” the president said at a press conference. General representative of the Colorado party, Wildo Almirón.

From canopies of the ruling party They invited citizens to go to the polls this Sunday.

And while the electoral authority was finalizing the details for this Sunday, traditionally Market 4 in Asunción the everyday hustle and bustle gave no hint that the vote for the future president of the country was coming.

In the middle of the shop Javier Torres, president of the Mercado 4 Medicinal Herb Sellers Associationhe believes that there will be “surprises” in these elections, although he admitted that they will be held in a “very atypical” environment.

However, he did not hide his disappointment because the candidates did not visit that area.

“We were marginalized by the candidates and we are 2500 families We who are in Mercado 4″, complained Torres.

This entrepreneur, a law graduate, believes that the decision is in between “two big parties”.

“But we young people, who make up the majority (of the population), we are the ones who decide in this countrybecause we are the critical voices, the thinking voices,” he said.

About 4.8 million Paraguayans, including 41,000 living abroadthey are invited to vote for the new president and vice president, congressmen and other local authorities.