1993 Paraguayan general election

Conduct

The elections were not entirely peaceful. On election day an opposition television channel was raked by gunfire, and government officials cut the phone lines of opposition parties and independent election monitors. However, the phone lines were restored after intervention from Jimmy Carter. Despite confirmed cases of fraud, independent analysts concluded that the fraudulent activity had no effect on the outcome, and that Wasmosy's eight-point margin of victory was large enough to offset any illicit activity. Carter's team of international observers noted that opposition candidates tallied almost 60 percent of the vote between them.

The elections completed a transition to full democracy in a country that had seen only two years of pluralism in its history before the 1989 coup. For much of the time before 1989, opposition had been barely tolerated, even when it was nominally legal. Even after Stroessner lifted a three-decade state of siege in 1987, opposition parties and newspapers continued to be suppressed, often brutally. In this climate, Stroessner had won all six of his contested bids for president (he appeared alone on the ballot in 1954 and 1958) with 70 percent or more of the vote, only dropping below 80 percent once.

Results

President

Senate

Chamber of Deputies

Notes

References

References

1. [[Dieter Nohlen]] (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II'', p425 {{ISBN. 978-0-19-928358-3
2. (April 11, 1993). "Governing Party Wins Paraguay Presidential Vote". [[The New York Times]].
3. Lewis, Paul H.. (1991). "The Cambridge History of Latin America". Cambridge University Press.
4. Nohlen, p420
5. (June 20, 1992). "Paraguay celebrates new constitution". [[United Press International]].
6. Nohlen, p417
7. Nohlen, pp426-432
8. (May 14, 1993). "Dirty Democracy in Paraguay". [[The New York Times]].
9. [http://countrystudies.us/paraguay/52.htm History] [[Library of Congress Country Studies]]