1988 Paraguayan general election

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 Deputues. Voter turnout was 92.2%.[2]

1988 Paraguayan general election

14 February 1988
Turnout92.2%
Presidential election
 
Candidate Alfredo Stroessner Luis María Vega
Party Colorado Radical Liberal
Popular vote 1,187,738 95,450
Percentage 89.6% 7.2%

President before election

Alfredo Stroessner
Colorado

President-elect

Alfredo Stroessner
Colorado

Parliamentary election


60 seats in the Chamber of Deputies
30 seats in the Senate
Party Leader % Seats ±
Chamber of Deputies (31 seats for a majority)
Colorado Alfredo Stroessner 89.6% 40 0
Radical Liberal Luis María Vega 7.2% 13 0
Liberal Carlos Ybarra 3.2% 7 0
Senate (16 seats needed for a majority)
Colorado 20 0
Radical Liberal 6 0
Liberal 4 0
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

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, opposition leaders were arbitrarily arrested, and opposition meetings and demonstrations were broken up—often brutally. By election day, the only independent media outlets that hadn't 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, as he was overthrown in a coup in February 1989.[4] Fresh elections were held in May 1989, the first time the opposition had been able to contest elections more or less unmolested for several years.[4]

Results

President

Candidate Party Votes %
Alfredo StroessnerColorado Party1,187,73889.6
Luis María VegaRadical Liberal Party95,4507.2
Carlos Ferreira YbarraLiberal Party42,4303.2
Invalid/blank votes7,818
Total1,333,436100
Source: Nohlen

Senate

Party Votes % Seats +/-
Colorado Party200
Radical Liberal Party60
Liberal Party40
Invalid/blank votes
Total300
Source: IPU

Chamber of Deputies

Party Votes % Seats +/-
Colorado Party1,187,73889.6400
Radical Liberal Party95,4507.2130
Liberal Party42,4303.270
Invalid/blank votes7,818
Total1,333,436100600
Source: Nohlen, IPU

References

  1. Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II, p425 ISBN 978-0-19-928358-3
  2. Nohlen, p426
  3. Bruneau, Thomas C.. "Government and Politics". Paraguay: A country study (Dannin M. Hanratty and Sandra W. Meditz, eds.). Library of Congress Federal Research Division (December 1988). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. Nohlen, p416


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