GOVERNMENT
Paraguay's highly centralized government was fundamentally changed by the 1992 constitution, which provides for a division of powers. The president, popularly elected for a 5-year term, appoints a cabinet. The bicameral Congress consists of an 80-member Chamber of Deputies and a 45-member Senate, elected concurrently with the president through a proportional representation system. Deputies are elected by department and senators are elected nationwide. Paraguay's highest judicial body is the Supreme Court. A popularly elected governor heads each of Paraguay’s 17 departments.
Principal
Government Officials
President--Nicanor Duarte Frutos
Vice-President--Luis Castiglioni Soria
Minister of Foreign Affairs--Rubén Ramirez Lezcano
Ambassador to the U.S.--James Spalding Hellmers
Ambassador to the OAS--Manuel Maria Caceres
Ambassador to the UN--Eladio Loizaga Caballero
Paraguay
maintains an embassy in the United States at 2400 Massachusetts
Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20008 (tel. 202-483-6960). Consulates
are in Miami, New York, and Los Angeles.
Type: Constitutional Republic.
Independence: May 1811.
Constitution: June 1992.
Branches: Executive--President. Legislative--Senate
and Chamber of Deputies. Judicial--Supreme Court of Justice.
Administrative subdivisions: 17 departments,
1 capital city.
Political parties: National Republican Association/Colorado
Party (ANR), Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA), Beloved Fatherland
(PQ), National Union of Ethical Citizens (UNACE), National Encounter
Party (PEN), The Country in Solidarity Party (PPS), and numerous
small parties not represented in Congress.
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory
by law up to age 75.
