Horacio Cartes wins Paraguay election

Rightwinger from Colorado party tied to big agricultural interests sweeps to popular victory despite stain of corruption scandals

guardian.co.uk, Jonathan Gilbert in Asunción and Jonathan Watts, Latin America correspondent,  22 April 2013

Horacio Cartes celebrates his victory in the Paraguayan presidential election.
Photograph: Jorge Saenz/AP

Paraguayan voters have elected the rightwing tobacco tycoon Horacio Cartes as president after a campaign marked by allegations of vote-buying, crime and homophobia.

Despite having been investigated for fraud and drug smuggling, Cartes recorded a clear-cut victory that marks the resurgence of his Colorado party, which held a grip on power for six decades until 2008.

The main challenger, Efrain Alegre of the ruling centre-right Liberal party, conceded defeat on Sunday evening when a partial count showed him almost 10 points behind. With more than half of the polling stations reporting, Cartes was on course to win 46% of votes while Alegre lagged with 36.9%.

Thousands of red-clad Colorado supporters gathered outside Cartes's campaign headquarters on Sunday night, waving flags, blaring music from cars and letting off fireworks. Cartes made a brief victory speech in which he called for unity. "I won't work alone," he told the crowd. "We have to work together to move Paraguay forward."

"I'm so happy we're back in power," said Norma Silva, 48, a member of the party celebrating on the back of a pick-up truck with her family. She works in a government ministry. "Cartes will create work for young people. He's the future."

The return of the party – which represents landowners and agribusiness – looks likely to worsen Paraguay's troubled relationship with the leftwing governments that run most of its South American neighbours. Many withdrew their ambassadors in 2012 after the ousting of Fernando Lugo as president.

Cartes, who has shares in more than 20 companies, campaigned on the promise of creating jobs, and investing in health and education. This appealed to voters looking for more growth in the isolated and poor nation.

Many Paraguayans migrate to Argentina and Spain in search of employment. "Cartes will open the doors for young people to work," said María Fleitas, a 34-year-old lawyer voting at a downtown Asunción polling station.

But both candidates faced corruption allegations during the election campaign. Cartes, who will start his five-year term in August, spent nearly a year in jail in 1989 for illegal currency dealings, though he was later acquitted.

WikiLeaks cables reveal he was recently investigated by the US for trafficking drugs and contraband cigarettes from the tri-border with Argentina and Brazil. In 2000 a plane loaded with marijuana and cocaine was seized by police after it landed on one of Cartes's farms. Cartes has also been accused of laundering money for Brazilian drug traffickers.

Cartes dismissed such claims as mere "anecdotes" on Sunday morning.

Landlocked Paraguay is considered one of Latin America's most corrupt nations and few here expected clean elections before polling stations opened on Sunday.

A Colorado party senator was suspended on Saturday after he was filmed supposedly offering cash to provincial Liberal party officials in exchange for annulled ballot papers. Local press reported votes being bought for just a few pounds, a practice that has been commonplace in the past.

Many voters were unperturbed by Cartes's time in jail and the accusations against him. "All the candidates are stained," said María Cattebeke, 31, a teacher voting in the capital. "So the dirt on Cartes doesn't really matter."

She added: "He is an excellent businessman and that will reflect in his management of the government," echoing a view held by many. "He can take the country forward."

Cartes will inherit benign economic conditions. Thanks to a strong harvest, Paraguay, a major beef and soy exporter, is forecast to grow economically by around 10% this year.

In 2008 voters elected the leftwing Lugo as president but his reforms were blocked by opposition from landowning elites and multinational agrochemical companies.

His supporters were left disillusioned. "Lugo cheated me," said Verónica Gómez, a 53-year-old housewife who voted for him five years ago but cast her ballot for Cartes on Sunday. "I believe in Cartes."

The former president has warned that Cartes's government will do little to alleviate conditions for the third of the population who live in poverty. "The Colorado party represents the interests of a small privileged group," Lugo, who was impeached in a parliamentary coup last year, told the Guardian. "Its political model is a return to the past."

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