The president of Paraguay's Chamber of Deputies, Raúl Latorre, declared himself opposed to any suspension or postponement of party elections and defended the continued use of voting machines, considering them fundamental for the open-list system.
In statements to the press, Latorre recalled his participation in student protests against closed lists, known as "listas sábana," during his studies at the Faculty of Medicine of the National University of Asunción. "We marched and demonstrated against the closed list because we understood it was a bad thing," he said.
The deputy classified the implementation of open lists as "a milestone" in his political career and argued that voting machines are indispensable to make this electoral model viable. "For open lists to be implemented, voting machines are necessary," he said.
Latorre acknowledged that there is an ongoing debate about the system's reliability and the possibility of suspending or postponing internal elections, but stressed that the Honor Colorado movement maintains a firm position. "We will follow the necessary audits, but we will not support a suspension of the elections," he assured.
The Chamber president also stated that Colorado Party members have the right to choose "democratically and within the deadline" their representatives for the upcoming national elections. Finally, he warned that a possible postponement of the electoral process could create problems in defining candidates for the general elections. "Suspending or postponing the election at this point could even bring us the risk of not having candidates for the national elections," he concluded.