2018 Paraguayan general election

General elections were held in Paraguay on 22 April 2018.^[1] President Horacio Cartes and Vice-President Juan Afara of the Colorado Party were not eligible for re-election. The presidential elections were won by the Colorado Party's Mario Abdo Benítez, who defeated Efraín Alegre of the GANAR alliance.^[2] The Colorado Party also won the most seats in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies. The new President and Vice-President took office on 15 August 2018 and left office in August 2023.

2018 Paraguayan general election

← 2013 22 April 2018 2023 →
Presidential election
Turnout	61.25% ( 7.27pp)
Candidate Mario Abdo Benítez Efraín Alegre Party Colorado GANAR Running mate Hugo Velázquez Leo Rubin Popular vote 1,206,067 1,110,464 Percentage 48.96% 45.08%
President before election Horacio Cartes Colorado Elected President Mario Abdo Benítez Colorado
Chamber of Deputies
All 80 seats in the Chamber of Deputies 41 seats needed for a majority
Party Vote % Seats +/– Colorado 39.10 42 −2 PLRA 17.74 17 −10 GANAR 12.08 13 New PPQ 4.46 3 +2 Hagamos 3.19 2 New PEN 3.18 2 0 MCN 1.41 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 32.52 17 −2 PLRA 24.18 13 0 Guasú Front 11.83 6 +1 PPQ 6.77 3 +3 Hagamos 4.47 2 New PDP 3.66 2 −1 MCN 2.48 1 New UNACE 2.12 1 −1 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

Electoral system

The President of Paraguay is elected in one round of voting by plurality.^[3] The 80 members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected by closed list proportional representation in 18 multi-member constituencies based on the departments.^[4] The 45 members of the Senate are elected from a single national constituency using closed list proportional representation.^[5]

Opinion polls

Polling firm	Date	Sample size	ANR-PC	GANAR	Other/None	Don't know/ No answer	Margin of error
ABC Color	6 April 2018	Unknown	51.9%	35.8%	–	–	–
La República	March 2018	1,300	42.2%	46.3%	3.5%	8.0%	–

Results

President

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Mario Abdo Benítez	Colorado Party	1,206,067	48.96
	Efraín Alegre	Great Renewed National Alliance	1,110,464	45.08
	Juan Bautista Ybáñez	Paraguay Green Party	84,045	3.41
	Jaro Anzoátegui	National Artists' Movement	15,490	0.63
	Atanasio Galeano	Popular Patriotic Movement Party	9,908	0.40
	Ramón Ernesto Benítez	Patriotic Reserve Movement	9,361	0.38
	Pedro Almada	Broad Front Party	8,590	0.35
	Efraín Enríquez	National Sovereign Movement	7,291	0.30
	Celino Ferreira	Movimiento Civico Nacional Unamonos	6,295	0.26
	Justo Germán Ortega	Heirs Democratic Socialist Party	5,930	0.24
Total			2,463,441	100.00
Valid votes			2,463,441	94.82
Invalid votes			71,924	2.77
Blank votes			62,624	2.41
Total votes			2,597,989	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			4,241,507	61.25
Source: TSJE

Senate

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Colorado Party	766,841	32.52	17	–2
	Authentic Radical Liberal Party	570,205	24.18	13	0
	Guasú Front	279,008	11.83	6	+1
	Beloved Fatherland Party	159,625	6.77	3	+3
	Hagamos Party	105,375	4.47	2	New
	Progressive Democratic Party	86,216	3.66	2	–1
	National Crusade Movement	58,409	2.48	1	New
	National Union of Ethical Citizens	49,889	2.12	1	–1
	Green Party	37,812	1.60	0	0
	We are Paraguay	34,623	1.47	0	New
	National Encounter Party	30,365	1.29	0	–1
	Plurinational Indigenous Political Movement	25,785	1.09	0	New
	Christian Democratic Party	16,619	0.70	0	New
	Secure Paraguay	15,005	0.64	0	New
	Party of the Movement for Socialism	14,773	0.63	0	New
	Patriotic Reserve Movement	14,397	0.61	0	New
	Revolutionary Febrerista Party	14,332	0.61	0	0
	Kuña Pyrenda Movement	9,795	0.42	0	0
	Civic Compromise	9,542	0.40	0	New
	Concertación Nacional Avancemos País	9,478	0.40	0	New
	Party of the A	8,934	0.38	0	New
	All for Paraguay United Movement	7,269	0.31	0	New
	National Artists' Movement	6,775	0.29	0	New
	Us	5,948	0.25	0	New
	Heirs Democratic Socialist Party	5,275	0.22	0	New
	National Political Sovereignty Movement	5,065	0.21	0	New
	Movimiento Civico Nacional Unamonos	5,040	0.21	0	New
	Broad Front Party	3,403	0.14	0	New
	Union and Equality Political Movement	2,500	0.11	0	New
Total		2,358,303	100.00	45	0
Valid votes		2,358,303	91.11
Invalid votes		92,716	3.58
Blank votes		137,277	5.30
Total votes		2,588,296	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,241,507	61.02
Source: TSJE

Elected Senators

Name	Party	Alliance
Agustín Amado Florentín Cabral	Authentic Radical Liberal Party	Authentic Radical Liberal Party
Antonio Carlos Barrios Fernández	Colorado Party	Colorado Party
Blanca Margarita Ovelar de Duarte	Colorado Party	Colorado Party
Blas Antonio Llano Ramos	Authentic Radical Liberal Party	Authentic Radical Liberal Party
Blas Lanzoni Achinelli	Authentic Radical Liberal Party	Authentic Radical Liberal Party
Carlos Alberto Filizzola Pallarés	Party for a Country of Solidarity	Guasú Front
Carlos Leopoldo Gómez Zelada Brugada	Authentic Radical Liberal Party	Authentic Radical Liberal Party
Derlis Ariel Alejandro Osorio Nunes	Colorado Party	Colorado Party
Desirée Graciela Masi Jara	Democratic Progressive Party	Democratic Progressive Party
Dionisio Oswaldo Amarilla Guirlland	Authentic Radical Liberal Party	Authentic Radical Liberal Party
Enrique Fausto Bacchetta Chiriani	Colorado Party	Colorado Party
Enrique Salyn Concepción Buzarquis Cáceres	Authentic Radical Liberal Party	Authentic Radical Liberal Party
Ernesto Javier Zacarías Irún	Colorado Party	Colorado Party
Esperanza Martínez de Portillo	Party of Citizen Participation	Guasú Front
Fernando Alberto Silva Facetti	Authentic Radical Liberal Party	Authentic Radical Liberal Party
Fernando Armindo Lugo Méndez	Independent	Guasú Front
Fidel Santiago Zavala Serrati	Beloved Fatherland Party	Beloved Fatherland Party
Georgia María Arrúa de Dolinsky	Beloved Fatherland Party	Beloved Fatherland Party
Gilberto Antonio Apuril Santiviago	Hagamos Political Party	Hagamos Political Party
Hermelinda Alvarenga de Ortega	Authentic Radical Liberal Party	Authentic Radical Liberal Party
Horacio Manuel Cartes Jara	Colorado Party	Colorado Party
Jorge Antonio Oviedo Matto	National Union of Ethical Citizens	National Union of Ethical Citizens
Jorge Osvaldo Querey Rojas	Party for a Country of Solidarity	Guasú Front
José Gregorio Ledesma Narváez	Authentic Radical Liberal Party	Authentic Radical Liberal Party
Juan Bartolomé Ramírez Brizuela	Authentic Radical Liberal Party	Authentic Radical Liberal Party
Juan Carlos Román Galaverna Delvalle	Colorado Party	Colorado Party
Juan Darío Monges Espínola	Colorado Party	Colorado Party
Juan Eudes Afara Maciel	Colorado Party	Colorado Party
Lilian Graciela Samaniego González	Colorado Party	Colorado Party
Luis Alberto Castiglioni Soria	Colorado Party	Colorado Party
María Eugenia Beatriz Bajac de Penner	Authentic Radical Liberal Party	Authentic Radical Liberal Party
Óscar Alberto González Daher	Colorado Party	Colorado Party
Óscar Hugo Richer Florentín	Popular Socialist Convergence Party	Guasú Front
Óscar Nicanor Duarte Frutos	Colorado Party	Colorado Party
Óscar Rubén Salomón Fernández	Colorado Party	Colorado Party
Paraguayo Antonio Cubas Colomés	National Crusade Movement	National Crusade Movement
Patrick Paul Kemper Thiede	Hagamos Political Party	Hagamos Political Party
Pedro Arthuro Santa Cruz Insaurralde	Democratic Progressive Party	Democratic Progressive Party
Sergio Daniel Godoy Codas	Colorado Party	Colorado Party
Silvio Adalberto Ovelar Benítez	Colorado Party	Colorado Party
Sixto Pereira Galeano	Tekojoja People's Party	Guasú Front
Stephan Rasmussen González	Beloved Fatherland Party	Beloved Fatherland Party
Víctor Alcides Bogado González	Colorado Party	Colorado Party
Víctor Ríos Ojeda	Authentic Radical Liberal Party	Authentic Radical Liberal Party
Zulma Ramona Gómez Cáceres	Authentic Radical Liberal Party	Authentic Radical Liberal Party

Source: ABC Color

Chamber of Deputies

Results by department

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Colorado Party	927,183	39.10	42	–2
	Authentic Radical Liberal Party	420,821	17.74	17	–
	Great Renewed National Alliance	286,513	12.08	13	–
	Beloved Fatherland Party	105,765	4.46	3	+2
	Hagamos Party	75,601	3.19	2	New
	National Encounter Party	75,514	3.18	2	0
	National Union of Ethical Citizens	65,593	2.77	0	–2
	Guasú Front	42,891	1.81	0	–1
	Green Party	42,053	1.77	0	0
	National Crusade Movement	33,417	1.41	1	New
	Progressive Democratic Party	27,932	1.18	0	0
	Christian Democratic Party	26,783	1.13	0	New
	Civic Compromise	21,651	0.91	0	New
	Broad Front Party	20,594	0.87	0	New
	We are Paraguay	18,060	0.76	0	New
	Concertación Nacional Avancemos País	16,070	0.68	0	New
	Revolutionary Febrerista Party	15,169	0.64	0	New
	National Artists' Movement	11,727	0.49	0	New
	Youth Party	10,871	0.46	0	0
	Us	10,816	0.46	0	New
	Secure Paraguay	9,651	0.41	0	New
	Patriotic Reserve Movement	9,648	0.41	0	New
	Civic Participation Party	9,567	0.40	0	New
	Party of the A	9,043	0.38	0	New
	Heirs Democratic Socialist Party	8,832	0.37	0	New
	Itapua for All Alliance	8,683	0.37	0	New
	Plurinational Indigenous Political Movement	8,094	0.34	0	New
	Movimiento Civico Nacional Unamonos	7,241	0.31	0	New
	Party of the Movement for Socialism	6,207	0.26	0	New
	All for Paraguay United Movement	5,871	0.25	0	New
	Ganar Alliance	5,476	0.23	0	–
	Party of the Patriotic Popular Movement	5,147	0.22	0	New
	National Political Sovereignty Movement	4,457	0.19	0	New
	Let's Continue Building Alliance	4,183	0.18	0	New
	Union and Equality Political Movement	3,775	0.16	0	New
	Itapuense Front Alliance	3,036	0.13	0	New
	Concertación por Vos	2,407	0.10	0	New
	Party of Popular Unity	1,329	0.06	0	New
	Tekojoja People's Movement	1,046	0.04	0	New
	Movimiento Politico Civico Nacional Unamonos	949	0.04	0	New
	All for Ñeembucu	772	0.03	0	New
	Mbarete Independent Political Movement	595	0.03	0	New
	Teete Patriotic Front Party	574	0.02	0	New
Total		2,371,607	100.00	80	0
Valid votes		2,371,607	91.84
Invalid votes		78,457	3.04
Blank votes		132,296	5.12
Total votes		2,582,360	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,241,507	60.88
Source: TSJE

Departmental Governors

Department	Elected governor[6]	Party		Votes	%
Concepción	Edgar Idalino López Ruíz		Liberal	43.881	49.78
San Pedro	Carlos Alcibiades Giménez Díaz		Colorado	56,493	39.66
Cordillera	Hugo Alberto Fleitas Ovelar		Liberal	58,998	45.10
Guairá	Juan Carlos Vera Báez		Colorado	50,115	58.26
Caaguazú	Alejo Rios Medina		GANAR	88,651	46.17
Caazapá	Pedro Alejandro Díaz Verón		Colorado	30.638	49.32
Itapúa	Juan Alberto Schmalko Palacios		Colorado	87,441	44.38
Misiones	Carlos María Arrechea Ortiz		Colorado	29,364	48.28
Paraguarí	Juan Carlos Baruja Fernandez		Colorado	49,416	46.10
Alto Paraná	Roberto Luis González Vaesken		Colorado	104,539	37.47
Central	Hugo Javier González Alegre		Colorado	314,314	43.99
Ñeembucú	Luis Federico Benitez Cuevas		Colorado	20,881	47.89
Amambay	Ronald Enrique Acevedo Quevedo		Liberal	31,119	47.95
Canindeyú	César Ramírez Caje		Colorado	36,516	53.16
Presidente Hayes	Rubén Antonio Roussillon Blaires		Colorado	13,710	32.37
Alto Paraguay	José Domingo Adorno Mazacotte		Colorado	3,910	50.16
Boquerón	Dario Rafael Medina Velázquez		Colorado	9,051	49.40