Paraguayan poor elect former Catholic bishop as new president
By staff reporter
25 April 2008

Retired Catholic Bishop Fernando Lugo has been elected president of Paraguay.

Bishop Lugo took an early lead in the pre-election polls, despite disapproval from the Vatican and, initially, from the Paraguayan bishops' conference. As support for Bishop Lugo remained high in the largely Catholic country, the conference refrained from further comment.

Left-leaning Bishop Lugo won slightly more than 40 per cent of the vote, edging out Colorado Party candidate Blanca Ovelar, who sought to become the country's first female president, and retired General Lino Oviedo, former head of the armed forces, who was convicted, then acquitted, of a 1996 coup attempt. In Paraguay, unlike other Latin American countries, there is only one round of balloting, and the candidate with the simple majority is the winner. The bishop will take office in August for a five-year term.

Bishop Lugo retired from the Diocese of San Pedro in 2005. The Vatican suspended him from exercising his priestly ministry when he decided to run for president, but rejected his request for laicisation after more than 30 years as a bishop and priest.

At an outdoor celebration attended by thousands in Asuncion Bishop Lugo told the crowd: "Democracy is something we do together."

He said he hoped Paraguay would become known "for honesty, not for corruption".

Bishop Lugo, who campaigned on a platform of equality for poor farmers and Indians, will lead a country with a population of about six million.

With a per capita income of about £700, landlocked Paraguay is also one of Latin America's poorest nations. The service sector and agriculture are the largest employers, and more than a million people are estimated to have left the country in search of employment.

Ciudad del Este, on the border with Brazil, has a reputation as a haven for contraband smugglers and drug runners, and the country has been beset by corruption scandals. In 2001 it was revealed that President Luis Gonzalez Macchi's presidential limousine was a car that had been stolen in Brazil and smuggled into Paraguay illegally.

Wedged between Brazil and Argentina, Paraguay shares river borders and hydroelectric dams with both. Bishop Lugo pledged to renegotiate Paraguay's contract with Brazil for the Itaipu dam.

Under the existing contract, which was negotiated when both countries were under military rule, Paraguay sells its excess electricity to Brazil at cost. Bishop Lugo has proposed increasing Paraguay's share of the revenues by raising the price to market rates.

Outgoing President Nicanor Duarte verbally attacked Bishop Lugo, whose campaign he claimed was financed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, while the media predicted the bishop's victory.