Event Summary
In Paraguay, recent complaints about irregular transfers in the Permanent Civic Registry (RCP) and reforms to the Electoral Code not only affect the transparency of the electoral process, but also directly limit the enabling environment for civil society. After the 2023 elections, several CSOs were stigmatized as actors of interference and cooperation agreements with the Superior Electoral Court (TSJE) were broken, discouraging new citizen observation initiatives.
At the same time, Congress passed reforms that eliminate the use of the national registry in primary elections (Legislative file here) and modify provisions on political financing (Legislative file here). While some sectors point out that these reforms “relax” controls and open up risks of opacity, the TSJE itself admitted that recommendations to strengthen oversight were ignored.
At the same time, the debate on the bidding for new voting machines is taking place without including organizations with technical expertise, some of which were publicly identified as opponents of electronic voting.
These developments reduce the channels of dialogue between citizens and institutions.