Paraguay president says will not run in 2018 election

Paraguay's President Horacio Cartes said on Monday he would not be a candidate in next year's election in order to preserve stability in the South American nation, regardless of whether Congress passed an amendment to allow second terms, Reuters reported. REUTERS/Jorge Adorno

In a letter to the Archbishop of Asuncion that was shared on Twitter, Cartes, a former soft-drink and tobacco executive, said his decision not to run was inspired by Pope Francis’s call for peace and dialogue in Paraguay. Protesters set fire to Congress On March 31 after the Senate secretly voted in favor of the amendment, and police later stormed an opposition political party and killed a protester. However, Pedro Alliana, the head of the Colorado Party, said the house was now unlikely to vote in favor of the proposal.
Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes says he will not be a candidate in next year's presidential election regardless of Congress's action on a constitutional amendment that would allow second terms. Cartes adds his decision was informed by Pope Francis's call for peace and dialogue in Paraguay following protests against this change that turned violent two weeks ago.