OAS and Paraguay agree to send observation mission for upcoming municipal elections

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Organization of American States (OAS) will send an electoral mission to Paraguay to observe the municipal elections on October 10. More than four million Paraguayans are summoned, the Foreign Ministry informed on Tuesday.

The mission responds to the initiative of the Paraguayan government, which signed today in Washington the agreement with the OAS General Secretariat concerning the “privileges and immunities” of observers, added the source.

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OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, quoted on the Foreign Ministry’s page, said this will be the organization’s fifteenth mission during the elections in Paraguay.

Observers will meet with national authorities and local actors to make a final report on the process and make recommendations.

The Foreign Ministry stressed that Almagro will soon announce the person who will lead the mission.

During the meeting, the Chargé d’Affaires of Paraguay to the OAS, Raúl Martínez Villalba, communicated to Almagro the peculiarities of these elections, with unblocked lists and electronic voting machines.

In total, 28 political parties, 113 political movements, 118 electoral alliances and four coalitions have candidates to preside over municipal governments and occupy councils in municipal elections, of which 4,644,536 people are eligible to vote, as announced by the last week Electoral Justice.

The candidates for 261 town halls total 831, while 15,535 aspire to integrate 2,781 municipalities.

It was after the party elections last June, during which parties and coalitions chose their municipal candidates.

The ruling Colorado Party fielded the most candidates, followed by the Liberal Party, the largest opposition party.

The next electoral nomination in these elections will be the party’s internal elections to nominate candidates for the presidential and legislative elections of 2023.