Efraín Alegre was removed from the presidency of the Liberal Party in Paraguay | The former presidential candidate described it as “an attempted robbery”

2023-08-07 05:01:00

Former Paraguayan presidential candidate Efraín Alegre was dismissed this Sunday from the leadership of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA), in a conventional meeting that -also- chose a new board of directors and that the opposition leader himself described as an “attempted robbery”.

After adding three consecutive electoral defeats for the Presidency of Paraguay, Alegre was removed from his position at the head of the main opposition party, in the middle of a troubled convention that took place in a gym in Asunción and that lasted longer than expected. .

Party members faced blows at the entrance to the venue, as seen in videos released by the press and social networks.

The opposition leader opposed dealing with the request presented by a group of party members, in which his dismissal was requested, and, after a heated discussion, he decided to adjourn the session and left the place.

Despite the fact that members related to the former presidential candidate also withdrew from the venue, the session continued with 325 conventional members, of which 319 voted in favor of removal.

The first vice-president of the PLRA, Hugo Fleitas, now assumes ownership of the party.

“I inform you that the convention was lifted due to the attempted robbery of the PLRA institutionality. The popular vote, the party statutes and the National Constitution are more sovereign than dirty money and must be respected, ”Alegre later published on his Twitter account.

For his part, the former independent presidential candidate Paraguayo Cubas, who is under house arrest after being accused of disturbing public peace and other alleged crimes, expressed solidarity with Alegre through social networks.

“Before the #Chartist takeover of the #PLRA goes my solidarity and support to #Efraín_Alegre,” Cubas posted on Twitter.

Cubas blamed the dismissal of Alegre on a PLRA group that, according to his words, would be related to the ruling Colorado Party, led by former President Horacio Cartes (2013-2018).

Alegre, a lawyer who ran for the presidency for the third time, barely reached 27.52% of the votes, compared to 42.93% for the official Santiago Peña, of the Colorado Party-National Republican Association (ANR), according to the data of the Superior Court of Electoral Justice (TSJE).