Paraguay ruling party candidate Mario Abdo Benitez wins presidential election Monday April 23,2018

 

Paraguay ruling party candidate Mario Abdo Benitez wins presidential election 

Mario Abdo Benitez, the candidate from Paraguay's ruling Colorado Party, won the presidential election on Sunday April 22,2018 , data released by the country's election tribunal showed.

According to results released by the Superior Court of Electoral Justice (TSJE) of Paraguay, Abdo Benitez garnered 46.44 percent of the votes, while his main rival Efrain Alegre from the opposition Ganar Alliance pocketed 42.74 percent, after 99.67 percent of ballots were counted.

Abdo Benitez, 46, will take office and begin a five-year term in August 2018 when he succeeds outgoing President Horacio Cartes.

Mario Abdo Benitez, the 46-year-old former senator is the son of a private secretary to the late dictator General Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled for 35 years after leading a coup d'etat in 1954