ELECTIONS-PARAGUAY: Change - Catchword and Reality?

[nosmokes]

It pays to keep an eye on what happens in Paraquay. Bushco just has has too many connections down there, including a seemi-secret US military base that happens to sit right next to 10,000 acres the Bush family owns.
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original-ipsnews

ELECTIONS-PARAGUAY: Change - Catchword and Reality?

By David Vargas

ASUNCIÓN, Apr 18 (IPS) - Sunday’s elections will mark a watershed in the history of Paraguay, where the "bishop of the poor" is front-runner in the polls and the ruling party is at risk of losing its hold on power for the first time in six decades.

"We are looking at an unprecedented race in which there is a real possibility of change, a prospect that has shaken things up in structures that have governed for so long," sociologist Alejandro Vial commented to IPS.

"Real competition exists in democracy, and that is the novel aspect of this campaign. After so many years, people finally have in their hands a chance to exercise that power," he added.

The poll favourite is former Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo, representing the centre-left Patriotic Alliance for Change (APC) in the fifth elections held since the collapse of the 1954-1989 dictatorship of General Alfredo Stroessner, who died in exile in Brazil in 2006.

Lugo, 56, decided to leave the priesthood and run for president in December 2006, after a decade of work as bishop of the northern province of San Pedro, one of the poorest regions in this impoverished country of 6.7 million people.

However, the Vatican denied his request for laicisation and instead suspended him "a divinis", which means he cannot exercise certain priestly functions, but is not relieved of his clerical obligations.

Close on Lugo’s heels in the polls is former education minister Blanca Ovelar, the first-ever female presidential candidate of the National Republican Association, better known as the Colorado Party, which has governed Paraguay for 61 years.

In third place is former general Lino César Oviedo, leader of the National Union of Ethical Citizens (UNACE), who served just over three years of a 10-year prison sentence for a 1996 attempted coup against president Juan Carlos Wasmosy (1993-1998).

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complete article here

[stellanoir]

1. In as much as I care for the concerns of the people of Paraguay,

I just wonder if they'll revise their extradition policies.

Hope so though I'm sure it's of little concerns to the yocals.

[That Is Quite Enough]

2. This looks interesting...

I'll have to keep reading about the election. Thanks for the link.