Paraguayan Opposition Candidate Wins Vice Presidential Election
Politics: Julio Cesar Franco's victory is a blow to the long-ruling Colorado Party. His ties to an ex-general, however, may hurt his image as a reformer.
August 25, 2000|SEBASTIAN ROTELLA | TIMES STAFF WRITER
http://articles.latimes.com/2000/aug/25/news/mn-10330
Summary:
An politician was declared victor Wednesday in a special election of Paraguay's vice president, defeating the candidate from one of Latin America's longest-ruling and most authoritarian political parties. Election officials announced the narrow victory of Julio Cesar Franco of the center-left Liberal Party after an 11-day delay in the vote count--the latest tense episode for a shaky young democracy ruled by political gangsterism. That alliance may taint Franco's credentials as a reformer. And some Paraguayans fear that new political combat will further weaken President Luis Gonzalez Macchi.
Observations:
the election result was healthy in the sense that the voters broke with this party structure that was so embedded in the society. But the break was not the result of modern, democratic thinking but of messianic, irrational force that is betting on a scenario of continuing instability and conflict.
Political ties:
Franco's Liberal Party opposed the 35-year dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, who turned the now 113-year-old Colorado Party into a personal fiefdom until he was ousted in 1989. Franco has promised to work with the president for stability and solutions to an economic crisis crippling the landlocked nation of more than 5 million. But Paraguay remains high on the growing list of unsteady Latin American democracies. The government must enact sweeping reform of an economic and political structure based on paternalism, smuggling and corruption. In addition to possible clashes between the president and vice president, the converging ambitions of the opposition and Oviedo forces could stir up new troubles.
Politics: Julio Cesar Franco's victory is a blow to the long-ruling Colorado Party. His ties to an ex-general, however, may hurt his image as a reformer.
August 25, 2000|SEBASTIAN ROTELLA | TIMES STAFF WRITER
http://articles.latimes.com/2000/aug/25/news/mn-10330
Summary:
An politician was declared victor Wednesday in a special election of Paraguay's vice president, defeating the candidate from one of Latin America's longest-ruling and most authoritarian political parties. Election officials announced the narrow victory of Julio Cesar Franco of the center-left Liberal Party after an 11-day delay in the vote count--the latest tense episode for a shaky young democracy ruled by political gangsterism. That alliance may taint Franco's credentials as a reformer. And some Paraguayans fear that new political combat will further weaken President Luis Gonzalez Macchi.
Observations:
the election result was healthy in the sense that the voters broke with this party structure that was so embedded in the society. But the break was not the result of modern, democratic thinking but of messianic, irrational force that is betting on a scenario of continuing instability and conflict.
Political ties:
Franco's Liberal Party opposed the 35-year dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, who turned the now 113-year-old Colorado Party into a personal fiefdom until he was ousted in 1989. Franco has promised to work with the president for stability and solutions to an economic crisis crippling the landlocked nation of more than 5 million. But Paraguay remains high on the growing list of unsteady Latin American democracies. The government must enact sweeping reform of an economic and political structure based on paternalism, smuggling and corruption. In addition to possible clashes between the president and vice president, the converging ambitions of the opposition and Oviedo forces could stir up new troubles.