LA NACION, ULTIMA HORA, MERCOPRESS (Paraguay)
ASUNCION – Self-made millionaire Horacio Cartes won Paraguay’s election on Sunday with 46% of the vote, returning the conservative Colorado Party to power.
Cartes, 58, is a political novice, who had never voted before joining the Colorado Party (ANR) four years ago, reports MercoPress.
He owns dozens of companies in the tobacco, meat and soft drink industries, as well as a bank and a soccer club.
The Colorado Party had been in power for 61 years until former Roman Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo was elected in 2008. His Liberal Party only garnered 37% of the vote in Sunday’s election, and candidate Efrain Alegre conceded defeat in a brief speech: “The Paraguayan people have spoken. There’s nothing more to say,” writes Ultima Hora.
The private sector applauded the election of one of Paraguay’s most prominent businessmen, reports La Nacion.
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Nobel Prize laureate Oscar Arias, who oversaw the election for the Organization of American States, said that “it was an exemplary election day,” although there had been some “small incidents, which you see even in the consolidated democracies.”
During his victory speech, Cartes called for unity and said “I want the people who did not vote for us to know that I’ll put all my effort into earning their trust,” reports in La Nacion.
