Paraguay opposition candidate wins Asuncion mayor's race in gauge of 2028 vote

ASUNCION, Oct 4 - The candidate for Paraguay's ruling Colorado Party lost the mayor's race in the country's capital on Sunday in municipal elections widely seen as a midterm test for the right-wing government ahead of the 2028 general election.With 99.92% of votes counted in Asuncion, Soledad Nunez of the opposition coalition Alianza Juntos Por Asunción had 47.78% of the vote while Colorado candidate Camilo Perez won 45.98%.Colorado had controlled the mayor's seat since 2019.In the country's second-largest city, Ciudad del Este, opposition candidate Dani Mujica won the mayor's race by a wide margin.Perez told reporters on Sunday night that he would await an official review of the results on Monday.Nunez, a 2023 candidate for vice president, inherits a municipality burdened by millions of dollars in debt obligations, missed interest payments, stalled public works projects and infrastructure problems.In Ciudad del Este, a key commercial hub in the tri-border area with Argentina and Brazil, Mujica of the Yo Creo opposition movement won 72.83% of the vote, well ahead of the Colorado Party candidate on 23.8%, with all votes counted.A centrist, Miguel Prieto, the head of the Yo Creo movement, is expected to seek the presidency in 2028. Analysts see the 37-year-old lawyer as a rising political force capable of mounting one of the strongest challenges in years to the Colorado Party's long dominance of Paraguayan politics. REUTERS