Paraguay opposition claims narrow lead in VP vote

A woman reads about Sunday's elections in a newspaper Monday in Asuncion

In this story: 'Difference is very slim' Son's election seen as step toward justice 'The beginning of the end' RELATED STORIES, SITES

ASUNCION, Paraguay -- The opposition party appeared headed for a narrow victory, with nearly all the vice presidential votes counted in one of South America's weakest and most corrupt democracies.

Ricardo Maldonado of the official electoral agency said that with 95 percent of the votes tabulated, the Liberal Party's Julio Cesar Franco remained slightly ahead and looked likely to maintain his lead against the Colorado Party's Felix Argana.

MESSAGE BOARD Paraguay's election

"The tendency (of the Liberal Party winning) is solid and this has remained the same up to the most recent partial vote count," he said.

Maldonado released no actual figures because he said both parties had agreed not to give any new results until all the votes were counted. Since an assassination in March 1999, Paraguay has been without a vice president.

The last preliminary official results -- issued early Monday with just over 90 percent of the votes counted -- showed the Liberal Party ahead with 546,697 votes (47.77 percent) to 537,046 votes (46.93 percent) for Argana.

Franco ruled out any chance he could lose his lead when all the votes were tallied. "Never, without fraud, never ... there's absolutely no chance," he said in an interview his Asuncion home.

For Franco, the apparent lead was enough to declare victory. But Argana, son of the slain vice president, said both sides should wait for a final tally.

Earlier, both candidates had proclaimed victory, pointing to polls conducted by their own parties. But they vowed to respect official election results.

'Difference is very slim'

"Since the difference is very slim, we will need to verify the vote to avoid any possibilities of fraud," said Carlos Maria Ljubetic, an election board spokesman. "We will have a definitive result in the next 10 to 12 days."

"We ask everyone to stay calm and no one side to declare victory," said Carlos Mateo of Paraguay's state election agency.

Although tension had been predicted on election day, officials reported no violence during the voting by more than 1 million Paraguayans.

Whoever wins the vote will become the most powerful democratically elected politician in Paraguay, posing a direct threat to President Luis Gonzalez Macchi of the Colorado Party, who was appointed to the job and is mired in a rock-bottom popularity rating due largely to a national recession.

Also, a win by Franco would represent a significant setback for the Colorado Party, which has held power more than 50 years.

Son's election seen as step toward justice

Argana's father Luis Maria Argana was assassinated by gunmen in March 1999. The murder remains unsolved, although a Paraguayan judge has accused a political ally of the former president of masterminding the killing.

Argana, 43, an architect and a city councilman in the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion, has said he does not intend to overshadow Macchi but wants to be a stabilizing force in his troubled administration.

Supporters of Argana also have suggested his election would be a first step toward justice for his father's death.

Argana said Sunday the election showed that Paraguay, which has had three coup attempts in the last four years, had finally developed the "civic sense" to live with democracy. International observers say balloting is among the cleanest they had seen in Latin America.

'The beginning of the end'

Franco, a 48-year-old pediatrician, has suggested he would work to have Macchi removed from office if elected. Macchi, the former Senate leader, was appointed president after Raul Cubas resigned and fled the country in the wake of Luis Maria Argana's assassination.

Franco, left, talks with OAS representative Jose Luis Chea on Monday

A faction of the Colorado Party has been strongly critical of Macchi, and Franco could look for their support in Congress.

"This is one of the most important moments we have lived in Paraguay since we returned to democracy in 1989," Franco said Sunday. "We are going to await the results that give victory."

The election is the Liberal Party's best chance of gaining an executive post since 1939. A Liberal president was elected that year but died in 1941, setting the stage for six years of military governments before the Colorados began their long rule.

"This could be the beginning of the end," said Rosalino Cabrera, 32, walking with his son in a park where seven protesters were shot by rooftop snipers after the vice president's death.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Presidencia de la Republica del Paraguay (Spanish)
U.S. State Dept. Background Notes: Paraguay
Library of Congress Country Studies: Paraguay
Organization of American States
The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies

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