Mario Abdo confirmed his candidacy for the presidency of the ANR despite the fact that he is still in his functions as president, colliding with what the National Constitution dictates about his full exercise in the Executive Power.
The President of the Republic, Mario Abdo Benítez, is the official candidate to preside over the Colorado Party, he anticipated that his fight with his predecessor Horacio Cartes for the leadership of the force will be a fight of money against the authentic coloradismo and based his aspirations on the need to confront a model that is going to destroy the institutionality.
The main sectors of the party, Honor Colorado and Colorado Añetete, headed by Horacio Cartes and Mario Abdo Benítez, respectively, will fight in the internal elections in December to define the leadership of the party and the presidential formula for April 2023.
Abdo Benítez, in an act in Minga Guazú, had said that he will carry out a campaign respecting his responsibility as president. “As appropriate, I am going to prioritize my role as president of the Republic, but I have a moral obligation due to the situation we are experiencing to recover the kidnapped flag of Colorado, to face a model that is going to destroy the institutions of the republic, and I feel in a moral obligation to carry out this process that can liberate Colorado and once again be a tool for the entire Paraguayan nation”.
“Militancy cannot be prohibited, in fact former President Cartes was a candidate for Senator. Where there is a legal conflict is at the moment of assuming the presidency, because I am prohibited by the Constitution from having two functions, that of the president is an exclusive function. This will be a new struggle of money against the authentic coloradismo and I am sure that we are going to win, we will wait until August to lead a moral and ethical recovery of the coloradismo, we will once again hold training courses for young people, we are going to train the mayors so that they are good administrators,” said Abdo Benítez.
Finally, he added that: “we are going to build protocols to guarantee that our representation passes through a filter so that it is not contaminated with money from organized crime, we will seek for the Colorado Party to be an interlocutor with the other actors of society and the political parties with authority to build great consensus to develop our nation.”
However, the deputy of the Patria Querida Party, Sebastián Villarejo, intervened in the ordinary session, to harshly criticize the President of the Republic. Villarejo pointed out that “as if there were no problems in Paraguay, he now decides to campaign in violation of article 237 of our National Constitution. This represents continuity, which we are going to win in 2023 with the Concertación.”
The Magna Carta dictates, in its article 237, of the incompatibilities, that Mario Abdo must dedicate himself exclusively to his functions as national president. “The President of the Republic and the Vice President may not hold public or private positions, paid or not, while they last in office, nor may they engage in commerce, industry or any professional activity, and must dedicate themselves exclusively to their duties.”
“As if he had time left over, and he addressed citizens every day about the economic and security crisis, as if there were a clear direction in the Executive, now he decides to start a political campaign, as well as Vice President Hugo Velázquez himself ”, pointed out the legislator.
Finally, the parliamentarian regretted the president’s decision, expressing that “it is an offense to the country and democracy, because Mario Abdo, before focusing on governing from the Palacio de López, is fighting to reach the chair on 25 of May, I no longer know who leads Paraguay”.
Let us remember that in 2006, Nicanor Duarte Frutos, being President, had obtained the endorsement of the Superior Court of Electoral Justice to run for the National Republican Association (ANR) despite even a complaint from the opposition for violating the Constitution.
In this way, Mario Abdo Benítez will have to face Horacio Cartes, who has already confirmed that he will bid for ownership of the ANR. The party institution has an extension of the mandate of its authorities, such as the members of the Governing Board, of the different sectionals and conventional delegates that go until the end of the year 2022.
