The attorney for the Colorado Añetete movement, Cecilia Pérez, stated that the supposed audit of the voting machines was actually just a technical presentation, and that the Cartismo faction itself acknowledges flaws by supporting new audits.
Tsje
The Honor Colorado movement, led by pre-candidate for mayor of Asunción, Camilo Pérez, rejected the request for an audit of voting machines made by Senator Lilian Samaniego and her brother Arnaldo, classifying the demand as an attempt to destabilize the electoral process three weeks before the Colorado internal elections.
The Superior Electoral Court (TSJE) of Paraguay reaffirmed that internal party elections will take place on June 7, according to the original calendar. Despite requests for review, the court is willing to hold up to two days of technical clarifications on the voting machines, which already underwent an audit in February with participation from parties and international observers.
The Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA) has called for this Monday (19) an expanded meeting of the Political Committee, amid allegations of internal movements regarding supposed irregularities in the electoral process of the internal elections scheduled for June 7, 2026. Opposition sectors claim exclusion of proxies and audit technicians from voting machines and announce their own parallel vote counting system.
President Santiago Peña is accused of denying ties to a digital communicator who received an official credential, while allegations of a smear campaign against government critics grow. The head of Mitic is pressured to resign for allegedly concealing data, and Conmebol president Alejandro Domínguez faces corruption accusations from the United States.
Frente Guasú, the left-wing coalition led by former President Fernando Lugo, has again stated that electronic voting machines represent a direct threat to the popular will and democracy in Paraguay. The party criticizes the Electoral Justice for allegedly preventing independent audits and demands transparency in the electoral process.
Internal movements of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA) have warned of irregularities in the use of voting machines in the internal elections scheduled for June 7, including problems in contracting, lack of technical audit, and absence of oversight in the preparation of equipment. Senator Éver Villalba announced that the party will implement a parallel control system, with the participation of voters themselves and its own TREP.
Deputy José Rodríguez (ANR, HC) stated he fully trusts the Superior Electoral Justice Tribunal (TSJE) and denied that dissident Colorados were prevented from auditing the voting machines, despite the Colorado Party's own Electoral Party Tribunal (TEP) having acknowledged the issue and requested measures to resolve the doubts.
Senate President Basilio 'Bachi' Núñez rebutted criticism from dissidents of the ANR and PLRA regarding the reliability of the electronic voting system, calling it an attempt to 'open the umbrella' in the face of a possible defeat. He defended the TSJE and announced a bill to allow voters to choose up to two candidates within the same list (double unlocking).
Deputy Luis “Tiki” González Vaesken, of the dissident Colorado movement Añeteté, defended the need to strengthen oversight systems at polling stations for the upcoming elections, amid doubts about the reliability of voting machines supplied by the Comitia-MSA Consortium, which had previously been disqualified in an earlier tender.
The Director of Information and Communication Technologies of the TSJE, Fausto von Streber, explained in an interview that the voting machines are 'unhackable' due to mechanisms such as RFID chip, Faraday cage, and jammer, which prevent external interference.
Liberal senator Celeste Amarilla harshly criticized the reliability of the electronic voting system and the open-list model, warning of possible fraud in internal elections and advocating a return to closed lists.
Amid questions about the electronic voting system, the Superior Electoral Justice Court (TSJE) detailed the security mechanisms of RFID chips in ballots, including encryption and validation, to prevent fraud in the June 7 internal party elections.
Congress President Basilio Núñez responded to Senator Lilian Samaniego's criticism regarding the audit of electronic voting machines, stating that the process was carried out according to schedule and that the opposition had the opportunity to participate. Núñez also recalled that Samaniego, when she chaired the ANR, appointed people she trusted, and defended confidence in the TSJE.
Senator Derlis Maidana (Honor Colorado) called on the political class to support institutions and downplayed the delay in the technical audit of voting machines, while dissident Senator Lilian Samaniego (Causa Republicana) denounced failures in the schedule and lack of transparency.
ANR proxy Eduardo González responded to Senator Lilian Samaniego that the audit of voting machines has already been carried out at the TSJE for all parties. Meanwhile, the National Congress, under the leadership of Basilio Núñez, begins an internal audit of university diplomas of employees, an initiative of Senator Eduardo Nakayama.
The president of the Superior Electoral Justice Tribunal (TSJE), Jorge Bogarín, stated that criticism of the voting machines aims to discredit the Paraguayan electoral system, weeks before the simultaneous internal party elections on June 7. Bogarín defended the transparency of the mechanism, implemented since 2021, and attributed the questions to an intention to weaken the model established by Law 6318/2019. Colorado senator Lilian Samaniego reiterated the request for an audit of the machines to the ANR.
Senator Lilian Samaniego, from the Causa Republicana movement, publicly asked the president of the Colorado Party, Horacio Cartes, and the president of the Party Electoral Tribunal, Santiago Brizuela, to carry out the audit of the voting machines before the internal elections on June 7, arguing that the procedure, scheduled for February, was not fulfilled and is essential to guarantee transparency and equal opportunities.
The president of the Superior Electoral Justice Tribunal (TSJE), Jorge Bogarín, stated that criticism of electronic voting is part of a campaign to discredit the institution. Less than a month before the simultaneous party primaries on June 7, the TSJE defended the system's security but acknowledged failures in communication with the public.
The Superior Electoral Justice Tribunal of Paraguay (TSJE) acknowledged that it relaxed the rules of a tender for the rental of voting machines, after canceling a first call in which the Consórcio Comitia MSA was disqualified for replacing the screen of an equipment during the technical test. The change allowed the consortium, which had been disqualified for an alleged attempted fraud, to win the new tender and close a contract of nearly US$ 35 million for the upcoming internal and municipal elections.