Some 5,043,154 registered Paraguayans head to the polls today to elect 263 mayors and municipal councils. The vote tests whether a party that has governed almost without a break since 1947 can be challenged close to home. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Paraguay time. Anyone inside a polling place at closing time may still vote.
The stakes are local, but the politics aren't. There's no presidential or congressional race, and the vote won't change the national government. Still, the elections are being watched as a test for President Santiago Peña and his Colorado Party ahead of the 2028 presidential vote, now 2 years away. Peña can't run again. His party aims to keep the presidency.
A Party With a Long Memory
The Colorado Party, formally the National Republican Association (ANR), was founded in 1887, 139 years ago. It's described as conservative. It has governed almost continuously for 79 years, including through the Stroessner dictatorship, which ran from 1954 to 1989. The party was out of power only from 2008 to 2013.
The main opposition, the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA), is described as centrist. It was founded in 1978 by opponents of Stroessner. Smaller parties such as Patria Querida often join the Liberals in local alliances. In the 2021 municipal elections, the Colorados won 163 mayoralties and the Liberals won 62.
Asunción and the Contested Cities
Asunción is the biggest prize. Colorado candidate Camilo Pérez faces Soledad Núñez, a civil engineer and former housing minister who isn't a career party politician. She runs on the Patria Querida ticket, backed by about 15 opposition parties and movements, including the Liberals.
Two September polls put Pérez ahead. Ati Snead's survey, taken 11–16 September, gave him about 52.6% to Núñez's 34.3%. Grau & Asociados, polling 16–17 September, had Pérez at 50.8% and Núñez at 27.0%. But the outlets that published both polls lean toward the ruling party, and coverage cautioned that readers should treat the gaps carefully.
In Ciudad del Este, a major trading city on the Brazilian border, Daniel Mujica of the Yo Creo movement won a November 2025 by-election by 40 points. That vote followed the August 2025 removal from office of Miguel Prieto, founder of the local reform party. Prieto predicted a historic Colorado defeat. Rigoberto Chamorro is the Colorado candidate, on the team of Governor César "Landy" Torres. No recent public poll was available.
In Encarnación, on the Argentine border, Colorado deputy Sebastián "Cheba" Remesowski, who won his primary with 76%, faces Liberal deputy Carlos Pereira. Pereira is backed by Alianza Encarnación en Marcha, which brings together the Liberals, Patria Querida and smaller parties. In San Lorenzo, near Asunción, Felipe Salomón, Colorado mayor in 2021–2026, wants his old job back against Luz Bella González, the Liberal picked as the opposition's consensus candidate. Neither city had a recent public poll.
Counting the Votes
The Tribunal Superior de Justicia Electoral (TSJE) expects its preliminary count, known as TREP, to begin around 5:30 p.m. local time, with results from all districts by 8 p.m. at the latest. TREP is preliminary and non-binding. Electoral tribunals in each circuit will conduct the official count and proclaim winners after Sunday. Exit polls and survey data can't be published until one hour after polls close.
No prediction market covered the municipal races. Kalshi did list 2028 congressional contracts, pricing the Colorados at about 76% to win the Senate vote and 82% for the Chamber of Deputies, against 15% and 18% for the Liberals. Only a few thousand contracts have traded, so the prices are a rough signal.
The central bank (BCP) reported year-on-year growth of 4.0% in the second quarter, down from 7.3% in the first. Growth for the first half was 5.7%.
Coverage said a broad Colorado win would show strength, while losses in Ciudad del Este or other large towns would give the opposition a sign of a challenge. Local results, it added, don't translate directly into national votes. Turnout and the durability of opposition alliances remain unknown.
Why This Matters:
Mayors and municipal councils control the services people touch daily. Who wins in Asunción, Ciudad del Este, Encarnación and San Lorenzo shapes ordinary lives more directly than any national headline. The vote also checks whether a party with 79 years of near-continuous rule, including during the Stroessner dictatorship, faces real competition. Opposition groups have united in about 15-party tickets and local alliances, and whether those hold is an open question. Slowing growth, from 7.3% to 4.0% in a quarter, gives voters an economic backdrop. With the ruling party's reach so broad, competitive local races are one way citizens hold power to account. Today's count will show how much appetite exists for that.