Ex-bishop wins Paraguay vote as democracy matures

A sandal-wearing former bishop's victory in Paraguay's presidential election shows democracy is maturing in Latin America, but after 61 years of one-party rule his foes may dictate the pace of change.

Fernando Lugo, a mild-mannered leftist who quit the cloth three years ago saying he felt powerless to help Paraguay's poor, ousted the ruling Colorado Party in yesterday's election with promises to tackle inequality and stamp out corruption.

"We feel good, we are happy with the people, with their behavior. It is the people who will build a democracy we Paraguayans deserve," the bearded, bespectacled 56-year-old former Roman Catholic bishop told Canal 13 television early today.

Local media trumpeted Lugo's victory. Daily paper ABC carried a banner headline proclaiming "a dirty and degrading transition" under the Colorado Party had finally been buried.

Lugo calls himself an independent and has steered clear of Latin America's more radical left-wing leaders, such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales in Bolivia.

But he is seen as a likely ally of moderate leftist presidents in the region, which has steadily turned away from the right-wing dictatorships, extremely corrupt governments and Marxist rebellions that were so prevalent in the late 20th century.

Lugo will take office on 15 August and has vowed to carry out agrarian reform to ensure poor peasant farmers can till their own land in a country where a small, wealthy elite owns the vast majority of farmland and cattle ranches.

Nearly four in every 10 Paraguayans are poor.

"If you have a left candidate who is clearly identified with the poor ... and if he can break the grip of the longest ruling party in the world, a right wing party, I think it shows how much South America has changed and how much democracy has taken hold," said Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a US think tank.

"We don't know how much Lugo is going to change the government, or how much he can," he added, noting the Colorado Party's powerful machine at every level of government.

"It will depend on what their response is. Are they going to play by the rules of democracy?"

The decision of Colorado Party candidate Blanca Ovelar, who was bidding to be Paraguay's first female president, to concede defeat as results showed Lugo with about 41 percent of the vote and a lead of 10 percentage points, was a good start.

Voter turnout was high, at around 65 per cent.

The Colorado Party has dominated Paraguayan politics since it took power in 1947, and it backed General Alfredo Stroessner's brutal 35-year dictatorship until helping to oust him in 1989.