MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Oviedo supporters and minor parties to hold primaries in Paraguay

Paraguay's smaller political parties, including the one founded by convicted coup leader Lino Oviedo, are set to hold primaries Sunday leading up to the April 27 general election

Election officials ruled on Jan. 14 that Oviedo, who is living in Brazil, cannot be the presidential candidate of the National Union of Ethical Citizens Party (UNACE) because he has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for participating in an attempted coup.

The party hierarchy is nevertheless supporting Oviedo, and leaders said UNACE would ignore the order - based on a Supreme Court decision - and nominate its leader to run for president.

Oviedo, 59, remains in Brazil after an extradition request by Paraguayan authorities was rejected. He is accused of planning the murder of Vice President Luis Maria Argaña in March 1999 and being responsible for the deaths of seven demonstrators killed during subsequent protests.

UNACE's slate includes Oviedo as president and party leader Sen. Guillermo Sanchez Guffanti as vice president, with several current representatives seeking seats in the legislature.

More than 2.2 million Paraguayans are expected to go to the polls to elect a successor to Paraguayan President Luis Gonzalez Macchi, who is being impeached for alleged corruption and failure to perform his duties.

UNACE, which Oviedo created for disaffected members of the ruling Colorado Party, is the largest of the 11 groups holding primary elections on Sunday.

Oviedo's party has 164,417 registered members, while the number of registered voters belonging to the other 10 parties does not exceed 20,000, according to election officials' data.

One of the more interesting presidential candidacies is that of businessman Pedro Fadul as the standard bearer for Patria Querida (Beloved Homeland), an organization that was founded a little more than a year ago by businessmen with ties to the Catholic Church.

Not all the parties will choose presidential candidates. The Social Democrats (PRF) and Christian Democrats (PDC) will only select candidates for Congress.

In addition, movements that have emerged recently under the influence of social, union and business organizations, as well as minority leftist parties will be included in Sunday's primaries.

The electoral process began Dec. 15, when the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA), the leading opposition group, selected former Vice President Julio Cesar Franco as its presidential candidate.

On the same day, the National Encounter Party (PEN), the country's third-most-powerful political group, chose former Justice and Labor Minister Diego Abente as their standard bearer, while a group that split off from the PEN, the Partido Pais Solidario (PPS), also chose candidates for Congress.

Former Education and Culture Minister Nicanor Duarte was selected the presidential candidate of the Colorado Party, which has ruled since 1947.

The primaries of both the Colorado and Liberal parties were tainted with numerous allegations of fraud.