Paraguayan general election, 2008
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| Turnout | 68.6% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Fernando Lugo
Patriotic Alliance for Change
General elections were held in Paraguay on 20 April 2008. Elections were held for the presidency, 45 senators, 80 representatives, 17 governors and Paraguay's members in the Mercosur Parliament.
The presidential election was won by opposition candidate Fernando Lugo of the Patriotic Alliance for Change, who defeated Blanca Ovelar of the long-ruling Colorado Party. The Colorado Party remained the largest in both houses of Congress despite losing several seats.
The following candidates ran for president:
The incumbent president, Nicanor Duarte Frutos, was barred by the Constitution from running for reelection and instead supported his education secretary, Blanca Ovelar. Initial results in the Colorado Party's December 2007 primary showed Ovelar defeating former Vice President Luis Castiglioni, but the result was disputed, leading to a recount. On January 21, 2008, the Colorado Party electoral commission announced that Ovelar had won with 45.04% of the vote against 44.5% for Castiglioni, although Castiglioni continued to claim victory, alleging that 30,000 votes in his favor were "stolen", and said that he would take the matter to court. Ovelar said that her campaign would shift its focus from the "cruel primary campaign" to the general election and that her platform prioritized "fight against poverty and to the creation of jobs".
Lugo is a former bishop who resigned from the priesthood in December 2006 in preparation for his presidential bid. As a priest, he required a permit from the Vatican to become directly involved in politics prior to 2006. However, the Paraguayan constitution prohibits ministers of any faith from standing as a political candidate. Despite his resignation, the Vatican regards priesthood as a lifelong commitment but has suspended him from his duties.
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