Paraguay’s ruling party names choice

Paraguay’s long-dominant ruling party on Monday confirmed that a former Cabinet minister would be its candidate in the coming presidential election, though her nomination faced a court challenge.

If elected in the April balloting, Blanca Ovelar would become the country’s first female head of state and the third woman elected president in South America in recent years. Women now lead Argentina and Chile.

However, her chief rival for the nomination, former Vice President Luis Castiglioni, vowed to pursue his legal challenge. Their Colorado Party has dominated Paraguayan politics for six decades.

If her candidacy withstands the internal test, Ovelar will probably confront a pair of popular opposition leaders who have said they intend to challenge the Colorado Party’s hegemony in the general elections, scheduled for April 20.

The upcoming balloting in a nation long controlled by infamous former strongman Alfredo Stroessner is shaping up as among the most competitive in the country’s history.

Paraguay, a landlocked tropical nation of almost 7 million people in an area nearly the size of California, is a close U.S. ally. The current president, Nicanor Duarte Frutos, must step down this year because of a limit to one five-year term.

The Colorado Party has held power in Paraguay since 1947. That period includes the 35-year rule of Stroessner, who was finally ousted by a coup in 1989.

Castiglioni, who finished second to Ovelar in the nomination process, has alleged that there was widespread fraud in last month’s primary vote.

“I don’t recognize and will not accept my supposed defeat,” he told reporters in Asuncion, the capital.

The former vice president labeled Ovelar “the candidate of fraud,” alleging that he was robbed of 30,000 votes.

But the Colorado Party’s electoral tribunal rejected Castiglioni’s challenge Monday and proclaimed Ovelar the official nominee. The party said it would defend her nomination in court.

According to the now-official primary results, Ovelar defeated Castiglioni by about 4,000 votes, a margin of less than 1 percentage point of all ballots cast.

An enthusiastic Ovelar told reporters that it was time to leave the party’s divisions behind and focus on winning in April.

“Our program of government gives priority to the fight against poverty and the generation of jobs,” said Ovelar.

She is an academic, educator and mother of three who served as the minister of education and culture before she stepped down last year.

Contesting the Colorado Party’s longtime domination are two populist candidates with strong followings.

On the left is Fernando Lugo, a former Roman Catholic bishop dubbed the “Bishop of the Poor,” who has won backing from indigenous and impoverished Paraguayans. The other aspirant is Lino Oviedo, a charismatic former general who is back on the national scene after serving a prison term for plotting a coup.

Paraguay is nation of vast income disparities and rampant smuggling of goods. U.S. officials have worked with the government on initiatives to reduce drug smuggling and alleged financing of terrorist groups in the triple-border area that Paraguay shares with Brazil and Argentina.

patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com

Andres D’Alessandro of The Times’ Buenos Aires Bureau contributed to this report.