ASUNCION: The US-educated son of a top aide to Paraguay’s late dictator is favourite to win Sunday’s presidential election in one of Latin America’s poorest countries. Opinion polls give Mario Abdo Benitez of the ruling conservative Colorado party a clear lead over his centrist opponent, Efrain Alegre, in a two-horse race to succeed outgoing conservative President Horacio Cartes. Voters showed little early enthusiasm as polling stations opened at 7:00 am (11:00 GMT) and are due to close at 4:00 pm. Landlocked Paraguay — sandwiched between Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil — has enjoyed consistent economic growth under tobacco magnate Cartes, but has failed to shrug off persistent poverty, corruption and drug trafficking.
It remains a land of contrasts, still marked by the 1954-1989 dictatorship of General Alfredo Stroessner.
However, a new generation of voter among the electorate of 4.2 million — born after the dictatorship responsible for the deaths or disappearances of up to 3,000 people — seems ready to turn the page. Forty-three per cent of the population is aged between 18 and 34.
Abdo Benitez was among the early voters on Sunday, rejecting criticism of his family ties to Stroessner. “I have earned democratic credentials in throughout my political journey,” he said.
Polls in recent weeks have given Abdo Benitez, the twice-divorced son of Stroessner’s personal secretary, a lead of 20 points ahead of 55-year-old Alegre in the race to succeed Cartes.
However, the latest opinion polls predict a neck and neck finish and predicate an Abdo Benitez win on a turnout of less than 70 per cent.
Tobacco magnate Cartes kept Paraguay on course for year-on-year growth of about 4.0 per cent on an economy based on exports of soybeans, meat and electricity.
But there has been little progress in alleviating poverty that has remained stubbornly at 26.4 per cent and corruption, with Paraguay languishing 135th out of 180 countries ranked by Transparency International.
“If Benitez loses, it will be a vote of sanction against Cartes, who has presided over a government of exclusion. People are reacting with weariness,” pollsters Sneard said.
Abdo Benitez, who goes by the nickname “Marito”, has pledged to reform the judicial system to render it less prone to corruption, but to maintain Cartes’ economic policy.
Alegre, the outsider at the head of the centrist GANAR alliance, has offered free health care for the poor and to slash the cost of electricity to stimulate investment and jobs. — AFP
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