By Xinhua,
Buenos Aires : Paraguayan voters will go to the polls Sunday to elect a new president and congress.
The following are key facts about the elections in Paraguay.
About 2.8 Paraguayans have registered to vote Sunday. They will choose their president, vice president, 45 senators, 80 provincial legislators and 17 governors, as well as the country’s representatives in the regional Parliament of the Common Market of the South (Mercosur).
According to the country’s constitution, only citizens resident in Paraguay have the right to vote and overseas Paraguayans must return to the country if they wish to participate in the elections.
Polling stations are scheduled to open at 7:00 a.m. local time (1100 GMT) Sunday, and close at 5:00 p.m. (2100 GMT). Preliminary results will be announced at 9:00 p.m. Sunday (0100 GMT Monday).
Under the 1992 Constitution of Paraguay, the president, who is also head of the government, is elected for a five-year term. There is no second round of voting, and the candidate who garners the largest number of electoral votes wins.
Six candidates are competing for the presidency. Latest opinion polls show that the three frontrunners are former Catholic bishop Fernando Armindo Lugo Mendez, candidate of the 22-party coalition Patriotic Alliance for Change, former army commander Lino Cesar Oviedo Silva (National Ethical Citizens’ Union party), and Colorado party’s Blanca Margarita Ovelar de Duarte, a former education minister.
The other three candidates are Pedro Fadul of the Beloved Homeland party, Horacio Galeano of Tetapyahu Movement and Julio Lopez of the Workers’ Party.
Paraguay’s legislative power is held by the bicameral National Congress, whose members serve for five years. The Senate has 45 members, and the Chamber of Deputies has 80 members.
Voting will be monitored by 80 observers from the Organization of American States headed by former Colombian Foreign Minister Emma Mejia.