A WEB

At the invitation of the Supreme Electoral Justice Tribunal of Paraguay (TSJE), the A-WEB Secretariat sent its Election Observation Mission to observe the 2021 municipal elections on 10 October in Paraguay. The elections were originally scheduled for 8 November 2020 but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 261 municipalities elected their respective Mayors and 2,781 Councilors of the Municipal Board.

The A-WEB International Election Observation Mission comprised seven election officials from the Supreme Election Tribunal of Bolivia, the National Civil Registry of Colombia, the National Electoral Jury of Peru, the Central Electoral Commission of Dominican Republic, the Federal Electoral Institute of Mexico, and the Election Commission of Maldives. The Secretariat dispatched its two officers, Pablo Lim, Program Officer of Training Department, and Ina Kim, Program Officer of External Relations Department. 

The Mission visited six voting centers and observed the opening, voting, and counting procedures in 36 different polling stations. 

In these elections, the TSJE introduced electronic voting machines at a national level for the first time. The overall voter turnout was around 60.5%. 

On the night of the election day, the A-WEB Mission held a debriefing session. All observers shared what they felt about the electoral process of Paraguay while observing the elections and recommendations were discussed. Professor Regis Dandoy from the Universidad de San Francisco de Quito moderated the debriefing session. 

The next day, the A-WEB Mission, led by Mr. Ismail Habbeeb Abdul Raheem, Vice-Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of the Maldives delivered a preliminary observation report to Minister Jaime Bestard, Chairperson of the TSJE of Paraguay. 

On behalf of all observers, the A-WEB Secretariat would once again like to thank the TSJE for their hospitality and invitation.