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Election to replace slain vice president |
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August 15, 2000
ASUNCION (AP) - Paraguay's vote for a successor to its slain vice president appeared extremely close, with early returns giving the opposition candidate a slim lead over the late politician's son. With nearly half the ballots tallied late Sunday, opposition candidate Julio Cesar Franco led with 47.51 percent, the election board said. Ruling party candidate Felix Argana had 47 percent. The special, one-office election was seen by the opposition as a chance to diminish the power of the ruling Colorado Party, which has headed this South American country for 53 years. The post of vice president has been empty since Luis Argana was gunned down in the street in March 1999. The winner of Sunday's vote will serve beside President Luis Gonzalez Macchi, whose popularity has plummeted since he was thrust into his post - without benefit of elections - amid the chaos following Argana's slaying. Election officials reported no violence during voting on a chilly, cloudy winter day. Some 2 million Paraguayans were eligible to vote. Both candidates claimed victory, pointing to polls conducted by their own party officials. However, both also said they would respect official results expected late Sunday. Speaking at the downtown headquarters of his Liberal Party, the 48-year-old Franco appealed to his supporters to keep calm. "My position is this: Let's say no to the violence regardless of the outcome and let's respect the official verdict," he said. Argana, 43, and his supporters appeared confident in their crosstown party office, festooned in the Colorado colors of red and white. Pre-election polls had predicted a tight race between Franco, of the opposition Liberal party, and Argana. The third candidate, Ricardo Buman of the Humanist Party, was considered a long shot. It was the first time in Paraguay's history that a vice president has been chosen outside a presidential election. Franco, a doctor, has suggested that if elected he would work to have Macchi removed from office. Macchi's Colorado Party has ruled Paraguay since 1947. Argana, an architect and Asuncion city councilman, voted Sunday morning after visiting his father's tomb. He has cast himself as a potentially stabilizing force in the troubled administration of Macchi, the former Senate president who took office after Raul Cubas resigned as president in the wake of Argana's death. Cubas was suspected of being involved in Argana's killing. Macchi's popularity has dipped to less than 20 percent as Paraguay struggles through a grinding recession. Argana supporters have suggested his election to office wÄxmd be a first step toward justice for his father's death. Argana's murder remains unsolved, although a Paraguayan judge has accused Lino Oviedo, an army chief and former political ally of Cubas, of being the mastermind of the murder.
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