Paraguay ruling party candidate Santiago Pena has won the country's presidential election.

Election officials say Pena from the right-wing ruling party received 42.7 percent of the vote, while centrist opposition coalition candidate Efrain Alegre had 27.4 percent. That's after 99 percent of the votes were counted in Sunday's election.

Pena told his supporters in the capital, Asuncion, that voters had sought social stability, dialogue and harmony. The former finance minister said he would achieve that.

Paraguay is one of 13 countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and the only remaining one in South America.

Whether to keep such relations with Taiwan became a major campaign issue.

Pena supports maintaining ties with Taiwan, while Alegre hinted at cutting off the ties and establishing diplomatic relations with China to expand exports of agricultural products.