Paraguay: Ex-priest is the main presidential aspirant
March 21, 2008
According to the polls, Fernando Lugo, former priest, is persistently leading, although with a little lead over his contenders. 34.8% of potential voters are ready to vote for him. Lugo, being a candidate from the Patriotic alliance for changes (la Alianza Patriotica para el Cambio de Paraguay) appeals to the poorest layers of the society, first of all to peasants to whom they promise serious changes. In his pre-election speeches he stresses that the program of his movement is not an improvisation but the result of long years of work in peasant organisations and among the population. His goal is to give everyone a decent work at his own land. «A cluster of people seized power in our country and exercise command over all national heritage. But it's all coming to an end because the nation has already stood up», - this is the main idea of his speeches.
Recently Lugo has visited Argentine to meet the Paraguayans who live there. There are not less than a million of them living in Argentine. Besides this, he also had a meeting with the president of the country Cristina Fernandez, senators and visited the Peoples university - Madres de Plaza de Mayo (UPMPM).
Fernando Lugo's nearest rival is a candidate from the ruling party of Colorado (Partido Colorado). The ruling party of Paraguay has nominated a woman – former Minister of education Blanca Ovelar as the nominee for the coming elections. According to the polls she gets 28.9% of votes.
The active president of the country Nicanor Duarte Frutos supports the nominee of Ovelar. It is necessary to say that probably it was not the best support, as the majority of Paraguayans are not satisfied with the result of his five-year activity on the post of the president. Newspaper «La Nacion» has published the polls results: 71.9% of the Paraguayans put «bad» and «very bad» marks for the work of the president.
Besides, recently different kinds of scandals have surrounded the president. For example, an inquiry of the bank account of Nicanor Duarte, where a million and a half dollars appeared for the period of 2001-2003 (years of election!), has recently been held.
Another scandal is connected with the alleged poisoning of the president. The incident took place of February 15 in the office of the Commander in Chief of the armed forces of Paraguay Berardino Soto Estigarribia, where the head of the state had a traditional meeting with the top military of the country for discussion of current issues. The mineral water that was given to the president and which he was about to drink had admixtures of hydrochloric acid.
Carlos Liseras, the Chairman of the military court, responsible for investigating the case, said that most likely, somebody deliberately tried to poison president Nicanor Duarte Frutos. According to Liseras, the expertise results point to the fact that the hydrochloric acid got in the bottle not by chance, as it was assumed earlier.
«We hold the version that there was an attempt on the life of the president, if not with the purpose of his physical elimination, then, at least to seriously damage his health», he said.
The identity of the one who attempted on the health of the president is not disclosed.
The retired general Lino Oviedo – 23% and a businessman Pedro Fadul – 1.9% are also taking part in the election campaign.
11.4% of Paraguayans either refused to answer or have not yet shaped their choice.
If Lugo is elected a president, then Partido Colorado will lose power in Paraguay for the first time in 61 years.