The vice president takes over. He serves out the rest of the term, not just a short caretaker stint. That is what Article 234 of Paraguay's 1992 constitution says, so Vice President Pedro Alliana was sworn in on 6 November 2026 after the Senate removed Santiago Peña. He will govern until the term ends in August 2028.
The handover was quick. Alliana took the oath before Congress minutes after the impeachment vote. But his move up leaves the vice presidency empty, and most English-language coverage hasn't explained who fills it.
What does the constitution actually say?
Article 234 is titled "Acefalía," which roughly means "leaderless." If the president can't serve, the vice president replaces him. If the vice president can't serve either, the job passes in this order:
- The president of the Senate
- The president of the Chamber of Deputies
- The president of the Supreme Court
The vice president who steps up keeps the job "until the end of the constitutional period". Paraguay doesn't hold a new presidential election. Alliana is now simply the president.
Who becomes vice president now?
Congress picks one, and timing is the reason. Article 234 sets two routes. If the vice presidency falls permanently vacant in the first three years of the term, an election is called to fill it. If it happens in the last two years, Congress chooses the new vice president by an absolute majority of its members, and that person serves the rest of the term.
The current term ends on 15 August 2028, so November 2026 falls in its last two years. That puts the choice with Congress, with no special election.
The pick doesn't have to come from inside Congress. When this rule was discussed in 2022, MercoPress noted that anyone who meets the legal requirements could be appointed, not necessarily a member of parliament. The sources we read don't say who Congress will choose or when it will vote.
Did Peña resign or was he impeached?
He was impeached. Some early coverage blurred the two. CNN's web address for the story, for example, uses the word "resigns." According to the AP, Peña offered to resign on Thursday, 5 November, but Congress impeached him instead.
That choice had real consequences. Removal denied him the immunity he would have kept if the Senate had accepted his resignation. He was then put under house arrest on suspicion of breach of trust, a charge that carries up to five years in prison, or up to 10 in serious cases. Either way, the vice president would have taken over. The difference shows up in Peña's legal exposure, not in who runs the country.
How does impeachment work in Paraguay?
It has two stages, both set out in Article 225. First the Chamber of Deputies brings the accusation by a two-thirds vote. Then the Senate holds a public trial, and removal takes another two-thirds vote. Grounds include poor performance of duties as well as crimes.
Peña was removed for misconduct in office (mal desempeño), with all 44 senators present voting against him. We didn't find the exact vote count in the Chamber of Deputies, where the case began.
What happens if Alliana is removed too?
Then the Senate president would become president, because the vice presidency is currently empty. This isn't purely hypothetical. Alliana is himself under investigation over Ueno's collapse. For now, lawmakers have rejected impeachment proceedings against him and shelved the case. The sources we read don't say whether the investigations could lead to new attempts, and they don't confirm who currently presides over the Senate.
Who is Pedro Alliana?
He's a career Colorado Party politician. Alliana, 52, was born in Pilar in 1974. He has been governor of Ñeembucú, a deputy from 2013 to 2023, president of the lower house, and leader of the Colorado Party. Former president Horacio Cartes picked him as Peña's running mate in 2021, though their relationship later cooled.
That matters because Cartes, Peña's mentor, turned the party against Peña and publicly called for his removal.
Has this happened before?
Yes. Peña is the second Paraguayan president ousted by impeachment since democracy returned in 1989. The first was Fernando Lugo, removed in June 2012. His vice president, Federico Franco, served out the rest of Lugo's term until the regular election in April 2013. Lugo's trial lasted less than five hours, and Human Rights Watch criticized it on due-process grounds.
The vice-presidential rule has been tested once before, in different circumstances. Vice President Luis María Argaña was assassinated in March 1999, seven months into the term. The electoral court asked the Supreme Court whether to hold new elections for both offices or only for vice president. It is the only time the full court has interpreted Article 234. The outcome was an election to fill only the vice presidency. That fits the first-three-years route. This time the vacancy came later in the term, so the choice goes to Congress instead.