MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguayan president manages to defuse institutional crisis

The Paraguayan Senate managed on Thursday to defuse an institutional stand off which threatened the stability of the recently inaugurated government of President Fernando Lugo. With a simple majority the ruling collation disbarred former president Nicanor Duarte who insisted in occupying a seat for which he had been elected.

"For the good of the country we are giving up our proposal", said the president of the Senate Enrique Gonzalez Quintana who belongs to the main opposition party led by former general Lino Oviedo and which until the beginning of this week supported Duarte's decision to take the Senate oath. The ruling coalition from President Lugo demanded Mr. Duarte be disbarred from his "active" Senate seat because as former president he's already entitled to a seat for life. During the vote thousands of Lugo supporters chanted and danced outside the Congress in the capital Asunción. Mr Duarte and the Senators from the opposition Colorado party did not turn up for the full session vote and the former president insisted he will appeal to the judicial branch to have his elected seat recognized. "I was elected with the support of 500.000 votes and proclaimed. I will appeal to Paraguay's legal system and internationally", said Duarte. Although the Paraguayan constitution awards former presidents an honorary (non vote) seat for life in the Senate, Mr. Duarte resigned to the privilege and ran for the elected post. He was voted by the largest margin in his party. Although the Electoral Tribunal supported his decision, the ruling majority threatened to disbar Gonzalez Quintana if as president of the Senate he accepted the incorporation of Duarte by taking his oath. Finally Gonzalez Quintana yielded putting an end to the institutional stand off in Congress which was stalling crucial legislation for the new government. Last week end President Lugo on national television accused Oviedo, Duarte and other Colorado party members of conspiring to organize a coup. The claim was flatly denied by all those involved. Last month President Lugo, a former bishop, took office signaling a historic milestone for the second poorest and landlocked South American country which has been ruled for over six decades by the hegemonic Colorado party.