MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguayan president “honest leader” image suffers a whacking

“How can Paraguayans trust him, if he was dishonest with God and the Vatican?”

The “honest leader” image of Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo, who last Monday admitted fathering a child while still a Catholic bishop, plummeted 16% according to the latest public opinion poll released this week.

The poll published this week in the Asuncion daily Ultimas Noticias shows 48% of interviews still consider President Lugo a “very honest leader” down from 64% in the previous days to his public admittance of paternity.

Another 32% described him as “not too honest” and 11% “not at all honest”. This compares with 22% and 4% on the days before his confession which sent shock waves to Catholic Paraguay.

The opinion poll also showed that 49% of interviews said they would not vote for Lugo (46% previously) while 32% confirmed their support vote compared to 41% just a few days ago.

It’s the first public opinion poll to be released in Paraguay since President Lugo (57) on Monday publicly and on national television was forced to admit paternity of a boy with a young woman of 26, whose family he visited regularly.

The scandal triggered strong criticisms from the opposition, --which has for months claimed he was father of more than the only child finally admitted--, from many of his followers and from the Paraguayan Catholic Church whose bishops in an open pastoral address asked for “forgiveness” for sins committed by members of the clergy and the church.

The phone poll from Servicios Digitales involved 655 interviews in two chapters, April 4 to 11, (before the confession) and April 13 to 15 following Lugo’s admittance.

President Lugo leads a catch-all centre coalition that took office last August with an unprecedented public opinion support based on his promise to combat rampant corruption and poverty in Paraguay where almost 40% of the population lives below the poverty line.

The walls of several neighbourhoods in Asuncion appeared smeared with the following graffiti, “if he was dishonest with God and the Vatican, how can Paraguayans trust him”, was smeared on the walls of several boroughs of the capital Asunción.