Asuncion: Supporters a right-wing candidate who came third in Paraguay presidential election Protesters clashed with police outside an election courthouse on Monday amid complaints of fraud in a vote that the ruling Colorado party won comfortably.
Police erected a barricade around the court’s headquarters and fired rubber bullets at youth protesters who were throwing stones, officials said after hundreds of Paraguayo Cubas supporters gathered. Elsewhere, protesters blocked roads by burning tires and destroyed billboards bearing the picture of economist Santiago Peña, 44, who won 43% of the vote on Sunday compared to 27% for runner-up Efrain Alegre.
Cubas, who surprised observers by winning nearly 23% of the vote, called for a recount in a post on Instagram and urged his supporters counter,
Yolanda Paredes, senator-elect and wife of Cubas, told reporters, “We are not satisfied. The elections were stolen from us. It’s that simple.”
Cubas was to travel from his bastion in Ciudad del Este on the Brazilian border to the capital Asuncion on Tuesday.
Runner-up Alegre said on Twitter that he too is calling for a recount by the electoral court and an international audit of the computer programs used in the electronic ballot boxes.
Interior Minister Federico Gonzalez called for “sanity”.
“There is a process being followed and that should be respected,” he said, referring to the work of the electoral court.
Police erected a barricade around the court’s headquarters and fired rubber bullets at youth protesters who were throwing stones, officials said after hundreds of Paraguayo Cubas supporters gathered. Elsewhere, protesters blocked roads by burning tires and destroyed billboards bearing the picture of economist Santiago Peña, 44, who won 43% of the vote on Sunday compared to 27% for runner-up Efrain Alegre.
Cubas, who surprised observers by winning nearly 23% of the vote, called for a recount in a post on Instagram and urged his supporters counter,
Yolanda Paredes, senator-elect and wife of Cubas, told reporters, “We are not satisfied. The elections were stolen from us. It’s that simple.”
Cubas was to travel from his bastion in Ciudad del Este on the Brazilian border to the capital Asuncion on Tuesday.
Runner-up Alegre said on Twitter that he too is calling for a recount by the electoral court and an international audit of the computer programs used in the electronic ballot boxes.
Interior Minister Federico Gonzalez called for “sanity”.
“There is a process being followed and that should be respected,” he said, referring to the work of the electoral court.