The National Republican Association (ANR, or Partido Colorado), Paraguay's ruling conservative party, held a historic unity event in Luque to officially launch the campaign for its List 1, presenting its 263 mayoral candidates and over 2,800 city council candidates for the municipal elections on October 4th. The event brought together the party's top leadership, including the president of the Governing Board, Horacio Cartes, and President Santiago Peña, who both emphasized the need to overcome internal differences and work together to win municipalities.
Cartes declared that internal disputes were left behind after the June 7th primaries and stated that "everyone is List 1," highlighting the party's financial strength and promising logistical and political support to the candidates. He described the event as "unique in the history" of Paraguay's democratic era, an unprecedented recognition of municipal candidates.
However, the unity was challenged by presidential pre-candidate Arnoldo Wiens, who refused to participate in the event. Wiens, from the Colorado Añetete faction linked to former President Mario Abdo Benítez, justified his absence with a blunt statement: "I do not want to embrace the corrupt, I do not want to endorse corruption." He accused the Honor Colorado movement, led by Horacio Cartes, of persecuting leaders who do not align with the ruling faction and of using public institutions to pressure political opponents.
In response to the criticism, former President Nicanor Duarte Frutos downplayed the impact of individual dissent. When questioned about Wiens' statements, Duarte Frutos argued that political actors distant from power tend to radicalize their discourse and project a supposed moral superiority. "The further a candidate is from power and sees himself with little chance of attaining it, the more radicalized promises he formulates and the more he boasts of a moral superiority he probably does not have," he stated.
Wiens' stance was also criticized internally by figures from his own political circle. Senator Colym Soroka, who is part of the same Abdo Benítez faction, publicly expressed his disagreement, asking Wiens to "bury the hatchet" and work for party unity in this crucial moment of the electoral campaign.
Wiens, in turn, maintained his confrontational position, stating that he will contest the leadership of the *cartismo* movement in the next presidential primaries and warning that the current leadership model could lead the Colorado Party to defeat against the opposition in 2028, specifically mentioning candidate Miguel Prieto as an electoral threat.