Cordula Tibi Weber, research associate at the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies in Hamburg, Germany: “Santiago Peña’s victory can be explained by three factors: first, the Colorado party has a support base of more than 2.5 million members and often clientelist links. Second, Efraín Alegre ran as the main opposition candidate for the third time. Being part of the political establishment, he couldn’t convince the electorate that he would bring the promised change. Third, Paraguayo Cubas, an anti-establishment, populist and right-wing candidate, got 22.9 percent of the vote. Many of those frustrated with the status quo voted for him, resulting in a strong loss for Alegre. When taking office, the main items on the new president’s agenda will be to stabilize the economy, stop tax evasion and alleviate poverty. Since 2018, the decade-long positive trend in poverty reduction has stopped. Peña’s main promise in this regard is the creation of 500,000 jobs. Contrary to Alegre, who was open to a switch to China to gain economic opportunities, diplomatic relations with Taiwan will be…”