The president is directly elected to no more than one five-year term. The conservative Colorado Party has held power since 1947—first through dictatorships, then under democracy since 1989—with just one brief period of opposition control between 2008 and 2013.

Santiago Peña of the Colorado Party won the presidency in the April 2023 election with 43 percent of the vote. The opposition vote was split: Efraín Alegre, representing an opposition coalition called the Concertación, took 28 percent, while the populist, antiestablishment candidate Paraguayo Cubas took 24 percent. International monitors described the election as largely transparent, but observed vote-buying, irregular assisted voting, and widespread transportation of voters by parties.

Allegations of fraud, largely unsubstantiated, were made by Cubas and echoed by Alegre. Cubas was arrested in May after convening protests and roadblocks, and remained under house arrest at year’s end on charges of disturbing the peace.

Alma Cívica and Decidamos, election-monitoring groups, were denied formal accreditation from the Superior Electoral Court of Justice (TSJE) but nevertheless exercised their legal right to observe the count.

Congress consists of an 80-member Chamber of Deputies and a 45-member Senate, with all members elected for five-year terms. In the April 2023 legislative elections, the Colorado Party won a majority in both chambers. The vote was held for the first time under a preferential voting system, which gave voters a choice of candidate within party lists, but favored candidates with greater campaign resources.

Monitoring missions considered the polls competitive, but entrenched clientelistic networks and organized vote-buying campaigns, especially among Indigenous communities, give the Colorado Party a significant advantage in legislative elections. In 2023, instances of vote-buying were likely to have affected several congressional races. Organized crime groups also increasingly control how people vote in down-ballot races in northern and eastern parts of the country. Multiple local officials and congressmen elected in 2023 were reportedly backed by the First Capital Command (PCC), a powerful Brazilian drug cartel.

Several opposition deputies and senators crossed the floor within months of the election to consistently vote with the Colorados, raising questions as to whether they had truly been aligned with the opposition.

Score Change: The score declined from 4 to 3 because the incumbent Colorado Party gained an undue advantage in several legislative elections through patronage and vote-buying campaigns.

The TSJE runs elections. In its report following the April 2023 election, the European Union (EU) recommended reforms to clean up campaign finance, tackle disinformation, reduce irregular assisted voting, and make it easier for Indigenous and rural voters to participate via having more polling centers and providing public transportation.

The absence of a runoff mechanism in Paraguay’s presidential elections is rare for the region and favors the Colorado Party over the fragmented opposition.

The Colorado Party dominates the national political scene with the opposition Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA), though both contain internal factions.

Smaller parties lost significant ground in the 2023 elections. The left-wing Frente Guasú lost five of its six Senate seats, and the right-wing Patria Querida (PPQ) shed two of its three senators. Movimiento Cruzada Nacional (MCN), led by Cubas, emerged as the country’s third political force, but half of its legislators have since voted consistently with the Colorado Party.

The formidable party machinery of the Colorado Party, the stacked playing field of Paraguay’s electoral system, and the growing wealth and influence of former president Cartes have resulted in an environment where the opposition can win only in exceptional circumstances. Colorado factions alternate in power, but do not depart from prevailing conservative economic and social policy.

The lack of a runoff mechanism—almost unique in Latin American elections—favors the ruling party and creates an extremely difficult landscape for opposition parties to win elections. Fernando Lugo was only elected president in 2008 due to deep divisions in the Colorado Party, and was impeached before he could complete his term. While a liberal-left coalition came close to taking the presidency in 2018, a split opposition vote served to eliminate that possibility in 2023.

In April 2023’s elections, the Colorado Party won control of the presidency, the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies, and 15 of Paraguay’s 17 departmental governorships, further entrenching its clientelistic networks and reducing the state funding available to opposition parties. The candidacy of Cubas and his MCN worked to the benefit of the Colorado Party by splitting the opposition vote. Additionally, during the 2023 campaign, media outlets owned by associates of former president Cartes—the current Colorado Party leader—consistently attacked Alegre and gave ample airtime to Cubas. Immediately following the election, around half of the MCN’s newly elected legislators began to consistently vote with the Colorado Party. Their de facto defection nullified any threat to Colorado dominance posed by this insurgent party.

The PLRA, the traditional opposition party, has long since been co-opted and divided into a pro-Cartes wing and a more independent bloc.

The 2023 elections were marred by vote-buying, which likely affected congressional races as well as departmental governorships and councils. Structurally weak trade unions and repression of peasant-farmer organizations also weakens the bases for a strong electoral opposition.

Score Change: The score declined from 4 to 3 because the electoral framework, ruling-party patronage networks, and the accumulated advantages of the ruling party’s nearly unbroken incumbency contribute to a landscape where it is extremely difficult for the opposition to win representation at national and local levels.

Voters are generally free from direct interference or outright intimidation. However, the ruling Colorado Party uses its extensive patronage network, access to public-sector jobs, and gifts of cash and groceries to influence votes. In the April 2023 election, the Colorado governor of the state of Alto Paraguay admitted to handing out cash to Indigenous voters before they went into their polling station.

Political office is overwhelmingly dominated by male and White or mestizo individuals. Although 19 Indigenous people ran for state and national office in 2023, none were elected. The share of women in Congress grew only slightly, holding 29 out of 125 seats. Women meanwhile won 2 out of 17 departmental governorships, and 71 departmental councillorships out of 257.

While elected officials determine government policy, decisions are often influenced or hampered by organized crime and corruption. Former president Cartes retains extensive influence over policy and cabinet appointments. Several cabinet ministers have links to organized crime, InSight Crime, a think tank, reported in August 2023.

Corruption and impunity are serious problems, and anticorruption laws have been poorly implemented. Cases languish for years in the courts; high-profile individuals charged and convicted typically benefit from bail and house arrest.

In January 2023, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Cartes and banned his businesses from the US financial system, accusing him of links to the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and claiming he had given monthly hand-outs of up to $50,000 to legislators while in and out of office to support his interests. The sanctions did little to harm Cartes’s political power. He remains president of the Colorado Party (following a December 2022 primary) and close to President Peña. Nevertheless, the public prosecutor’s office indicated in 2023 that it was investigating Cartes.

Reporting by the news portal ABC Color in December 2023 revealed that many legislators and officials employ children, spouses, and relatives as advisers. Several of those interviewed, including the daughter of Vice President Pedro Alliana, were unable to describe their role or what they did to earn their lucrative salaries.

Government transparency has improved somewhat in recent years, and access to information laws has bolstered investigative journalism.

Critics say that negotiations in 2023 with Brazil over the shared Itaipú dam—which could lead to a windfall of $2 billion annually—are not being handled with transparency.

Constitutional freedoms of expression and the press are unevenly upheld. Ownership of Paraguay’s largest media outlets is concentrated in three powerful companies, whose interests influence coverage.

Defamation lawsuits are often brought against journalists reporting on corruption, encouraging self-censorship. Radio Cáritas, a broadcaster, reported threats linked to its coverage in January 2023; it did not disclose what reporting the threats came in response to. In February 2023, radio journalist Alexander Álvarez was shot and killed in the border city of Pedro Juan Caballero. Several journalists have been murdered there in recent years by drug traffickers.

Multiple attacks were reported against journalists by protesters convened by Cubas after the elections in April 2023.

Diverse religious groups, including Protestant churches, Mennonites, and a Muslim community, generally worship freely.

School curriculum teaches a nationalist, politicized version of history. Textbooks skate over or even defend the 1954–89 Alfredo Stroessner dictatorship, omitting mention of human rights abuses. Although academia is generally independent, student elections and professional advancement often depend on affiliation with the Colorado Party or (to a lesser extent) the PLRA.

Citizens can, for the most part, engage in free and open private discussion, though the presence of armed groups in some areas can serve as a deterrent.

Protests are common but sometimes repressed. Demonstrations took place throughout 2023, including by campesino (peasant farmer) organizations demanding land reform.

In the aftermath of the April 2023 elections, Paraguayo Cubas, claiming fraud, convened supporters to stage roadblocks, with some protest events featuring clashes between protesters and police. A demonstration outside the TSJE continued for three weeks until—following negotiations with protest leaders—police forcibly removed the protesters. Cubas was arrested in early May on charges of disturbing the peace in connection with the demonstrations. A preliminary hearing on the matter was postponed in December to early 2024.

Paraguay has a strong culture of largely free nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). However, political access tends to be given to organizations representing industry, agribusiness, and religious groups. Political rhetoric targeting NGOs working on human rights—especially LGBT+ issues—has become more strident in recent years.

The right to unionize is constitutionally protected. However, only 7 percent of workers are unionized, according to International Labour Organization (ILO) statistics from 2015.

Labor activism was intermittent throughout 2023. Nursing associations picketed the health ministry in May to demand more resources for trainees. Health care workers also demonstrated in October and December over salary issues. Staff at the National University of Asunción (UNA) staged walkouts over pay in September. Demonstrations also took place in December in opposition to a retirement reform bill.

The judiciary is nominally independent, but money launderers, drug traffickers, and corrupt politicians have co-opted local judicial authorities. In March 2023, the United States sanctioned judicial officials Jorge Bogarin and Vicente Ferreira for corruption. The attorney general, Emiliano Rolón—an appointee of the previous president—has shown some independence from the current government, including by launching a corruption investigation against Cartes in March 2023.

Constitutional guarantees of due process are poorly upheld. Corruption permeates the judicial system, and the powerful and wealthy are frequently able to obtain favorable treatment or use the legal system to punish rivals.

Paraguay is one of the region’s safer countries. The threat posed by the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP), a small armed group, has subsided after recent military operations. However, violence perpetrated by organized crime groups is spreading. Multiple public officials and journalists have been assassinated in recent years. Contract killings are spreading from the border to the capital.

Prisons are blighted by severe overcrowding, long-term pretrial detention, and unsanitary and dangerous conditions. The country has some 17,700 prisoners, of whom 67 percent have not yet faced trial.

In December 2023, a government operation to regain control of Tacumbú, the country’s largest prison, left 11 prisoners and one police officer dead. Prisoners had rioted and taken guards hostage in October, leaving one prisoner dead.

Paraguay lacks legislation protecting against all forms of discrimination. LGBT+ people, especially transgender individuals, face endemic discrimination.

Indigenous people similarly face stigma and lack access to adequate health care. Rampant deforestation threatens the last Indigenous Ayoreo groups in voluntary isolation. Indigenous Guaraní settlements are often subject to violent eviction on behalf of farmers.

Mennonite communities and foreign ranchers are afforded a wide degree of legal forbearance.

Freedom of movement is generally respected, though the presence of criminal groups can discourage travel in some areas. Most people can change their employment without legal impediment. For students, moving between educational establishments can prove difficult as faculty have the power to retain grades.

Although there are few formal restrictions on business activity and property rights, land disputes, often linked to historic misappropriation of public and Indigenous land, remain a problem.

Women and children continue to suffer from high levels of gender-based violence and sexual abuse. Authorities recorded 35 femicides in 2021 and 40 in 2022; from January to September 2023, there were 26 femicides and 29 attempted femicides. Abortion, same-sex marriage, and civil unions remain illegal. LGBT+ people, especially transgender women, report feeling increasingly targeted by hostile political rhetoric.

Reports of forced labor periodically surface. The ongoing illegal practice of criadazgo—temporary adoption whereby children work without pay for other families—severely limits the freedom of some 47,000 children, according to government statistics from 2011, the most recent available.