Four days before Paraguay’s October 4 municipal elections, Luis Alberto Mauro, an adviser to the Superior Court of Electoral Justice (TSJE), said in an interview with Cardinal 730 AM, reported by ABC Color, that the institution hopes to exceed the 63% turnout recorded in 2021 and, if possible, pass 70%. He identified getting young voters to the polls as a challenge. This is an expectation, not a forecast.
The quoted size of the electorate does not match the official total in its September 1 release. Mauro said the voter roll had reached 5.4 million. A TSJE release published September 1 lists 5,043,154 eligible voters. The gap is 356,846 people, or about 7.1% above the official published total. The material available does not explain whether the figures use different counts. The interview figure should not replace the TSJE's published roll in a turnout calculation.
For scale, 70% of the official 5,043,154 would be about 3.53 million votes. That is an illustration using the TSJE’s published denominator, not an official forecast of ballots cast. The discrepancy needs clarification before Mauro’s expectation can be converted into a precise turnout count.
How votes become council seats
Voters will choose mayors and municipal council members in 263 districts. For council seats, the D’Hondt method first allocates seats among party lists according to their votes; preferential voting determines the order of candidates within each list. The distinction matters: D’Hondt does not rank every candidate against every other candidate nationwide. The rule appears in Article 258 of the Electoral Code, as updated by Law 6,918. Hoy reports that 18,973 people are seeking council seats and 2,832 full members will be elected.
Local contests, different stakes
In Central department, Hoy reports that the Liberal Party (PLRA) and its allies govern 10 of the department’s 19 municipalities. Deputy Billy Vaesken said the party wants to hold those offices and regain municipalities such as Ñemby. That is a party leader’s assessment, not an election poll.
In Caaguazú, Última Hora reports that lawmaker Alejo Ríos is seeking to return to the mayor’s office now held by his son, José “Papu” Ríos. The report frames the contest as a question of family succession in municipal office.
Municipal services and Sunday plans
In Asunción, an ABC TV team found trash piled at the corner of Tacuarí and San Carlos, covering part of the sidewalk and road. Residents told ABC Color that the container was inadequate and hard to reach, and pointed to illegal dumping. It is a localized problem reported during the campaign; one intersection does not by itself establish a nationwide service failure.
For election Sunday, the president of the Paraguayan Supermarket Chamber (Capasu), cited by ABC Color, said supermarkets would keep their usual hours, generally 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., with differences by chain. The report says the restriction on alcohol sales begins at 7 p.m. Saturday under Article 195 of the Electoral Code; supermarkets can continue selling other goods. The law prohibits alcohol sales on election day.
The TSJE lets voters look up their polling place by identity-card number. With four days to go, clarifying the difference between the interview’s figure and the official total is necessary to give the turnout target an unambiguous denominator.