MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

EU Mission Chief meets Paraguayan President ahead of elections

Mato highlighted the atmosphere of tranquility that currently exists in Paraguay

Spanish European Union (EU) MP Gabriel Mato, who heads the bloc's Electoral Mission in Paraguay, Tuesday met with President Mario Abdo Benítez to finalize the details of the April 30 polls whereby the latter's successor will be chosen.

Mato underlined in a post-meeting press conference that his team sought to help the general elections take place uneventfully. He also highlighted the atmosphere of tranquility that currently exists in the country.
“We had a meeting in which we showed what the observation mission is doing, which is coming to collaborate, help to see and logically to express our position once we have analyzed everything,” Mato said.
He also explained that the mission is made up of almost 130 members deployed throughout the country, who have already been working for several days. Once the results are known, a series of statements and reports will be released, the Spanish MEP also said while pointing out that the idea was to coexist not only with the political spectrum but also with the press and the citizens in general in order to guarantee the democratic process for which several working meetings have taken place.
It is the third consecutive time that the EU has observed elections in Paraguay. The first time was in 2013, after the controversial dismissal of President Fernando Lugo. The European monitoring team returned for the 2018 elections when Abdo won.
“We should understand it as the EU's great commitment to democratic processes. Our mission is not to give lessons on anything, nor to reprimand, but to collaborate,” Mato had said earlier this month in an interview. “We are governed by the principle of impartiality and a very rigid code of conduct that we comply with to the letter,” he added.