Paraguayan president-elect Horacio Cartes is a member of the Colorado Party, which dominated Paraguayan politics from 1947 to 2008. The conservative, right-wing party favors free trade, considers itself pro-business (Cartes himself is a prominent businessman) and has a long-standing relationship with the country's military. Cartes' election signals a return to the status quo that existed before the election of his predecessor, Fernando Lugo, who was impeached in June 2012 in what other regional governments have called a parliamentary coup . Lugo was elected in 2008 as the leader of a loosely unified coalition of center-left political groups. With only a weak mandate to govern, Lugo lost control of parliament. His removal from office provoked political sanctions from neighboring countries and resulted in Paraguay's suspension from Mercosur and the UNASUR regional political bloc.