President Laurentino Cortizo congratulated economist Santiago Peña on his victory in the presidential elections this Sunday in Paraguay.

“I greet the Paraguayan people and congratulate the president-elect @SantiPenap, to whom I wish the best of success in his management. We will continue to strengthen the ties of friendship and cooperation between our nations, ”Cortizo expressed on his social networks.

With 94.74% of the tables processed and a participation of 63.11%, Peña, 44, and his running mate for the Vice Presidency of the Republic, Pedro Alliana, added one million 255 thousand 104 votes (42.93%), according to the data from the system for the transmission of preliminary electoral results (TREP) .

Peña thus prevailed over the liberal Efraín Alegre, a candidate from a coalition of various opposition parties and who failed in his third attempt to win the Presidency, which reached 785,338 votes (27.52%), according to preliminary data.

Santiago Peña will take over from the current president of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez, of the Colorado Party, and who was preceded in office by Horacio Cartes (2013-2018), current leader of the Colorado Party -or National Republican Association-, and considered a political mentor of the future ruler.