Senator Lilian Samaniego, the main leader of the Causa Republicana movement, has intensified pressure on the Colorado Party leadership to carry out an independent audit of the electronic voting machines to be used in the party's internal elections, scheduled for June 7. In a video released on social media, Samaniego directly called out the president of the National Republican Association (ANR), Horacio Cartes, and the head of the Party Electoral Tribunal (TEP), Santiago Brizuela, arguing that the technical verification procedure should have taken place in February and was not fulfilled.
“I urge that the audit of the voting machines be carried out because what was established in the schedule was not fulfilled,” the senator wrote on her X account. She added that different internal movements have already formally requested the TEP to carry out the audit, given concerns about the system's guarantees. “This ensures equal opportunities, transparency, and legitimacy,” she stated.
In response, the Honor Colorado (HC) movement, led by Cartes, issued a statement saying it “does not support postponing the electoral schedule,” considering that less than three weeks before the primaries, a suspension could “put the holding of the elections at risk.” The text classifies the request as “untimely” and notes that the same electronic system was used in the 2021 and 2022 primaries and the 2023 general elections, processes through which the very leaders who now question the system “legitimately accessed their positions.”
Despite the criticism, the HC statement indicates that the movement “will follow any eventual decision” by the TEP and the Superior Court of Electoral Justice (TSJE) regarding a new audit. The party emphasizes that the electoral process deadlines are “peremptory and non-extendable” and that it is up to each political sector to ensure compliance with the schedule.
The audit request was also presented by opposition sectors, such as the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA), and by the Colorado dissidence. Senator Samaniego, who has previously presided over the ANR, argues that the technical verification is necessary to “demonstrate that the ANR remains the most important political force in Paraguayan democracy.”