As many as ten candidates are contesting the presidential elections taking place on Sunday in Paraguay, in what is seen as an attempt to reclaim democratic credentials of the country.
Horacio Cartes, of the conservative Colorado Party, and the centre-right Liberal Party’s Efrain Alegre are seen as front-runners. Polls will be open from 07:00 local time (11:00 GMT) until 16:00. Preliminary results are expected five hours after voting ends.
The country will choose a new president and vice-president, 45 senators, 80 members of the lower house and 17 state governors. Just over 3.5 million of the nation’s 6.6 million citizens are eligible for the mandatory vote.
“The world will see that Paraguay is a country that elects its authorities democratically, solving a vital problem for the people, that is, re-joining the international bodies,” Uruguayan MP Daniel Pena, who will be acting as an observer Mercosur parliament in the elections.
The country’s standing dipped in the region after last year’s disputed impeachment of President Fernando Lugo. The South American blocs Unasur and Mercosur both suspended Paraguay. They cited a “rupture in the democratic order”.
The impeachment followed a land eviction at a farm last June that led to the deaths of 11 farmers and six police officers. The incident sparked a nationwide outcry and the opposition declared President Lugo responsible.
Mr Lugo, a left-wing former Roman Catholic bishop, was impeached and replaced by Vice-President Federico Franco of the Liberal Party in less than 48 hours.
When a near unanimous vote blamed the president’s handling of the crisis for the deaths, neighboring countries recalled their diplomats citing a “congressional coup”.
Landlocked Paraguay is one of South America’s poorest countries, with an economy highly dependent on agricultural exports. It has long-standing corruption problems.
Its GDP shrank 0.5% last year, although forecasts predict double-digit growth for 2013.
