2008 Paraguayan general election

2008 Paraguayan general election

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Presidential election
Turnout	65.48% ( 1.28pp)
Candidate Fernando Lugo Blanca Ovelar Lino Oviedo Party PDC Colorado UNACE Alliance APC Popular vote 764,968 540,513 386,597 Percentage 42.40% 31.75% 22.74%
Results by department
President before election Nicanor Duarte Frutos Colorado Elected President Fernando Lugo Patriotic Alliance for Change
Chamber of Deputies
All 80 seats in the Chamber of Deputies 41 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/– Colorado Jose Alberto Alderete 32.96 30 −7 PLRA Blas Llano [es] 28.27 27 +6 UNACE Enrique Gonzales Quintana 18.70 15 +5 PPQ Pedro Fadul [es] 5.77 7 −3 PPT 3.65 1 New PDP 1.70 1 New APC 1.32 2 New BDA 0.37 1 New This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Senate
All 45 seats in the Senate 23 seats needed for a majority
Party Vote % Seats +/– Colorado 29.07 15 −1 PLRA 28.92 14 +2 UNACE 19.20 9 +2 PPQ 8.66 4 −3 PPS 3.47 1 +1 PPT 2.98 1 New PDP 2.19 1 New This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

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General elections were held in Paraguay on 20 April 2008.^[1] Elections were held for the presidency, 45 senators, 80 representatives, 17 governors and Paraguay's members in the Mercosur Parliament.^[2]

The presidential election was won by opposition candidate Fernando Lugo of the Patriotic Alliance for Change, who defeated Blanca Ovelar of the long-ruling Colorado Party.^[3] The Colorado Party remained the largest in both houses of Congress despite losing several seats.

The election ended a 61-year hold on the presidency by the Colorados. The Colorados had held the presidency without interruption since 1947 (from 1947 to 1962 as the de jure sole legal party, and from 1962 to 1989 as the de facto sole legal party). Additionally, when Lugo took office on 15 August, it marked the first time since Paraguay gained independence in 1813 that an incumbent government peacefully transferred power to an elected member of the opposition.