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Paraguay The Electoral System
Regulations pertaining to the electoral system, voting, and
political parties were found in the Electoral Statute, Law No. 886
of December 11, 1981. The statute's 21 chapters and 204 articles
provided minute detail on virtually all aspects concerning
elections. Article 1 stipulated that "the suffrage is the right,
duty, and public function of the elector. Its exercise is
elaborated according to this Law." Article 8 specified that the
political party obtaining a majority of votes would receive twothirds of the seats in the Congress, with the remaining one-third
divided proportionately among the minority parties. According to
Article 20, a party must obtain 10,000 signatures of citizens to be
registered. Article 25 proscribed parties of communist ideology or
those that sought to overthrow the regime and its principles.
Article 26 prohibited subordination to or alliance of parties with
parties in other countries, whereas Article 27 banned parties and
other political organizations from receiving external financial
support. Article 49 made voting obligatory. Articles 158 and 159
defined the functions and composition, respectively, of the Central
Electoral Board, the body responsible for implementing and
interpreting the provisions of the Electoral Statute. As with the
composition of the National Congress, the majority party held twothirds of the seats of the Central Electoral Board.
Data as of December 1988
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