Taiwan ties at stake, Paraguay begins voting

Asuncion, April 30

Paraguayans began voting on Sunday in what could be the biggest electoral challenge to the ruling conservative Colorado Party in over a decade and with the country’s long ties with Taiwan potentially at stake.

Polling stations opened at 7 am (1100 GMT) in what is expected to be a close contest between Colorado Party presidential candidate Santiago Pena, a 44-year-old economist, and 60-year-old political veteran Efrain Alegre, who is leading a broad center-left coalition and pledging a foreign policy shake-up.

The build-up to the election has been dominated by the economy, corruption allegations and the candidates’ views on Taiwan. Paraguay is one of only 13 nations to maintain formal diplomatic ties with the democratically governed Taiwan.

Alegre has criticised those ties, which have made it hard to sell soy and beef to China. Pena has said he would maintain ties with Taiwan. — Reuters