22 April 2008: A former Roman Catholic Bishop, Fernando Lugo, won Paraguay’s presidential election on Sunday, April 20, ending the Colorado Party’s 62 years of rule, the longest rule by any party in the world. Paraguay’s high poverty rate will test Mr. Lugo who campaigned on promises of redistributing land to poor peasants, fighting corruption, and renegotiating an energy treaty with Brazil.

Colorado Party candidate Blanca Ovelar, who was running as Paraguay’s first woman presidential candidate, conceded defeat with results showing that Lugo won 41 percent of the vote to Ovelar’s 31 percent. Former general Lino Oveido took 22 percent, and the remaining six percent went to other candidates. Voter turnout was about 65 percent.

Mr. Lugo has united 20 parties in his center-left Patriotic Alliance including leftist unions, indigenous, groups, and poor farmers to put an end to the last remaining dictatorial regime of the 1970s and 1980s in Latin America. However, the economy was the only issue as Paraguay is coping with massive poverty and Mr. Lugo’s coalition is divided on how to reform land ownership laws.

As election results came in Sunday his supporters filled the streets of the capital Asuncion celebrating with fireworks and dancing late into the night and into the next morning.

Most Paraguayans said they voted for Mr. Lugo hoping he can solve problems such as the country’s inequality, widespread poverty, and rampant corruption, as well as the high illiteracy and unemployment rates.

No party will have a majority in Congress and when Mr. Lugo takes office on August 15 he will immediately have to deal with a state apparatus dominated by Colorado Party loyalists following six decades of rule. Any corruption investigations are likely to be stymied by a Supreme Court dominated by the Colorado Party.

Some 70 percent of arable land is controlled by an elite ten percent of farmers. Mr. Lugo’s promised land reforms are a threat to the booming agribusiness sector as exports of soy, beef, and cotton make up 40 percent of Paraguay’s $9.1 billion economy. And some of the biggest land owners are Brazilian immigrants.

In addition to the gap between rich landowners and landless peasants, poverty and corruption are endemic. Between 35 and 40 percent of Paraguay’s 6.5 million inhabitants live in poverty. The previous government had been dubbed ‘the marijuana aristocracy” for its ties to drug smugglers, and Paraguay is in fourth place on Transparency International’s list of most corrupt countries.

The election of Mr. Lugo continues the socialist trend in governments throughout South America; however, Mr. Lugo has rejected the socialist models of Bolivia and Venezuela.

Incumbent President Nicanor Duarte also noted that this is the first time in Paraguay’s history that power has been transferred without a coup. This was only the fourth election since dictator Alfredo Stroessner was ousted in a coup in 1989 following 35 years of rule.

Another of Mr. Lugo’s campaign promises was calling for a renegotiation of the energy treaty with Brazil, but President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva immediately rejected the idea of paying more for electricity as specified under the international agreement, which allows Paraguay to sell Argentina and Brazil power generated from the Itaipu Dam, which Brazil helped to construct.

Also known as the “Bishop of the Poor”, Mr. Lugo may be facing a legal question as the Constitution bans priests from becoming presidents. He stepped down as bishop in 2006 to run for office but the Vatican considers him only suspended.

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