Paraguay Prohibits Opposition Rallies Urging Vote Boycott
The government will ban rallies by opposition groups trying to persuade Paraguayans to boycott the presidential elections, Interior Minister Sabino Augusto Montanaro said on Tuesday.
“(The elections) will be free and clean because voting and the popular will is to be respected,” Montanaro, who is also president of the ruling Colorado Party, told reporters.
Opposition parties say President Alfredo Stroessner’s government is rigging the elections, scheduled for Feb. 14. The 75-year-old general, who has held power for 33 years, will be seeking his eighth consecutive term in office.
Police prevented an opposition rally from taking place outside the capital on Sunday and arrested 200 people, among them prominent opposition leaders.
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