1988 Paraguayan general election

1988 Paraguayan general election

← 1983 14 February 1988 1989 →
Turnout	92.17%
Presidential election
Candidate Alfredo Stroessner Luis María Vega Party Colorado Radical Liberal Popular vote 1,187,738 95,450 Percentage 89.60% 7.20%
President before election Alfredo Stroessner Colorado President-elect Alfredo Stroessner Colorado
Chamber of Deputies election
All 60 seats in the Chamber of Deputies 31 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/– Colorado Alfredo Stroessner 89.60 40 0 Radical Liberal Luis María Vega 7.20 13 0 Liberal Carlos Ybarra 3.20 7 0 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Senate election
All 30 seats in the Senate 16 seats needed for a majority
Party Vote % Seats +/– Colorado 89.60 20 0 Radical Liberal 7.20 6 0 Liberal 3.20 4 0 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

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General elections were held in Paraguay on 14 February 1988.^[1] Alfredo Stroessner of the Colorado Party won the presidential elections, whilst the Colorado Party won 20 of the 30 seats in the Senate and 40 of the 60 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Voter turnout was 92%.^[2]

These were the first elections held since Stroessner nominally lifted a state of siege in 1987. The state of siege had been in force since he took office in 1954. Despite this, the elections took place in an atmosphere that was little different from past elections during Stroessner's 34-year rule. Opposition leaders were arbitrarily arrested, and opposition meetings and demonstrations were broken up—often brutally. The Colorados were the only party allowed to campaign unhindered. By election day, the only independent media outlets that had not been shut down were those operated by the Catholic Church. Under these conditions, most opposition parties urged their supporters to either cast blank ballots or abstain from voting altogether.^[3]

As it turned out, these were the last elections under Stroessner, who had won every election since 1954 with more than 70% of the vote. In February 1989, seven months after being sworn in for his eighth term, he was overthrown in a military coup.^[4] Fresh elections were held in May 1989, the first time the opposition had been able to contest elections more or less unmolested for over thirty years.^[4]