Armindo Torres

Paraguay’s Chamber of Deputies completed only eight of the year’s 41 sessions because of a lack of quorum, leaving bills unvoted, and is preparing changes to its rules to enforce pay deductions and penalize absent lawmakers.

Paraguay’s Chamber of Deputies reelected Camilo Benítez with 64 votes and elected Armindo Torres to the leadership of the Comptroller General’s Office, the constitutional body that oversees public resources, assets, budgets, and the State’s economic and financial activities. The opposition criticized the placement of Colorado Party members in both top posts, while Camilo Pérez leads election surveys with incomplete available methodology.

The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Raúl Latorre, stated that the request to lift the parliamentary immunity of Cartista deputy Esteban Samaniego depends on a deal involving three other lawmakers with pending cases, since removal requires a two-thirds majority and no single political force can reach that number on its own.

The request to lift the immunity of Deputy Cleto Giménez, accused in the "nepobabies" case for irregularly hiring his daughters as aides, has remained unexamined in the Chamber of Deputies of Paraguay for over two years.

The Chamber of Deputies of Paraguay has nine requests for the removal of parliamentary immunity pending, but President Raúl Latorre says there is no scheduled vote yet due to the need for unanimous agreement among the deputies involved.

Prosecutor Jorge Arce, who was part of the team that requested the dismissal of charges against Horacio Cartes, has been assigned to investigate President Santiago Peña for alleged illicit enrichment, money laundering, and other crimes.