ASUNCION • Infighting at Paraguay’s top electoral court has created a “very delicate situation” before this month’s presidential vote, the head of a monitoring team from the Organization of American States (OAS) said.
The court has been roiled by accusations from its only opposition member, Alberto Ramirez, that his two colleagues planned to shun him so they could swing the vote in favor of the ruling Colorado Party, which has held power in the poor South American country for more than 60 years.
The conflict peaked this week when a ruling party senator accused Ramirez of having plagiarized part of his doctoral dissertation in 2000. One fellow judge demanded Ramirez resign but he refused, saying the probe was politically motivated.
“This is a very delicate situation,” Maria Emma Mejia, a former Colombian foreign minister who will head the OAS mission monitoring Paraguay’s April 20 election, said in a telephone interview late on Friday.
“I’m worried about the lack of collegiality because, in the end, these judges will be the ones to tell us who will be the next president.” The tribunal is charged with denouncing ballot fraud.
The vote is expected to be tight, with polls showing center-leftist Fernando Lugo edging out the Colorado Party’s Blanca Ovelar. Lugo is a former Roman Catholic bishop and Ovelar is the country’s first woman to run for president.
Right-leaning Lino Oviedo, a retired army general, is polling in third place. He became a candidate after the Supreme Court overturned his 10-year prison sentence for plotting a failed coup in the mid-1990s. The candidate who captures the most votes will win the presidency, with no provision for a second round of balloting.
On election day, Mejia will have about 70 observers posted in five sites throughout Paraguay, which is widely known for corruption and contraband.
Accusations of fraud plagued the ruling Colorado Party’s primary election and Ovelar, who served as education minister under President Nicanor Duarte Frutos, has struggled to rally the party around her.
