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Santiago Pena wins Paraguay's presidential election

Pena belongs to the ruling Colorado Party, which has been in power in Paraguay for almost eight decades.

AFP

Some 4.8 million of Paraguay's 7.5 million citizens were eligible to vote in Sunday's presidential elections. / Photo: AFP

Paraguayans have elected a president from the rightwing Colorado Party, in power for nearly eight decades, rejecting a centre-left challenger who had railed against institutional corruption.

Economist and former finance minister Santiago Pena, 44, won the election on Sunday with more than 42 percent of votes cast, results showed with 90 percent of ballots counted, according to the country's election body.

Sixty-year-old challenger Efrain Alegre of the Concertacion centre-left coalition garnered 27.5 percent despite having had a narrow lead in opinion polls ahead of Sunday's vote.

The Colorado Party has governed almost continually since 1947 - through a dictatorship and since the return of democracy in 1989, but has been tainted by corruption claims.

Pena's political mentor, ex-president and Colorado Party leader Horacio Cartes, was recently sanctioned by the United States over graft.

Some 4.8 million of Paraguay's 7.5 million inhabitants were eligible to vote for a president to replace Mario Abdo Benitez, leaving office after a constitutionally limited single term, in a single-round, winner-takes-all election.

They also voted for new lawmakers.