A former leftist Paraguayan bishop celebrated his historic electoral triumph yesterday after defeating ruling party candidate Blanca Ovelar in a presidential election and ending 61 years of conservative Colorado Party rule.
Fernando Lugo was declared the winner by the Electoral Tribunal with nearly 41 percent of the vote compared to almost 31 percent for Ovelar, crushing her dream of becoming the country’s first woman president.
“Today we can dream of a different country,” Lugo, 56, told reporters late on Sunday. “Paraguay will simply not be remembered for its corruption and poverty, but for its honesty.”
Ovelar, whose party has been in power since 1947, conceded defeat before the final results were released.
“I recognize the triumph of Fernando Lugo,” she said. “We acknowledge with dignity that the results of the presidential contest are at this point irreversible.”
Another candidate, Lino Oviedo, 64, a retired army chief who helped stage a coup that ended the 35-year dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, trailed far behind in third place with 22 percent of the vote.
Lugo earlier addressed jubilant supporters of his leftist Patriotic Alliance for Change coalition at his campaign headquarters, saying the election showed that “the little people can also win.”
“You are responsible for the happiness of the majority of the Paraguayan people today,” he said as supporters chanted his name.
“This is the Paraguay I dream about, with many colors, many faces, the Paraguay of everyone,” said Lugo, who was suspended from his religious order by the Vatican in late 2006 for his entry into politics.
His supporters began celebrating their anticipated victory setting off fireworks even before polls closed.
The Colorado Party has been in power for 61 years, including Stroessner rule. Paraguay chose its first democratically elected president in 1993.
There is no runoff vote in Paraguay. Outgoing President Nicanor Duarte constitutionally could not seek re-election after serving a five-year term.
Turnout was a high 65 percent among Paraguay’s 2.9 million eligible voters, said Electoral Tribunal vice president Juan Manuel Morales, who announced the final results of the elections when 92 percent of precincts had reported.
Lugo’s Patriotic Alliance for Change coalition earlier had feared fraud would mar Sunday’s vote, but as 70 observers from the Organization of American States monitored ballot stations, electoral court chief Rafael Dendia said voting went smoothly.
International Transparency, an organization monitoring for voter fraud, reported some cases of corruption.
“We’ve seen voting cards being bought and money going around in some polling booths,” one of the group’s observers, Pilar Callizo, told Channel 4. “We also saw Colorado Party teams inside and outside some polling stations creating an atmosphere of intimidation.”
After election results were announced, Duarte vowed to help Lugo make a smooth transition.
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