2008 Paraguayan general election

2008 Paraguayan general election

← 2003 20 April 2008 2013 →
Presidential election
Turnout65.48% (Increase 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.

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.

  1. ^ "Paraguay.- Convocan en Paraguay elecciones generales para el mes de abril de 2008" Archived 2 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Lukor.com, 25 May 2007 (in Spanish).
  2. ^ "OAS mission highlights Paraguayan voters great participation – People's Daily Online". en.people.cn. Archived from the original on 21 April 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  3. ^ "Opposition wins Paraguay polls", Al Jazeera, 21 April 2008.