Son of ex-dictator's aide leads race as Paraguay votes

Updated 10:04 am, Sunday, April 22, 2018



ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — The son of a former dictator's top aide appeared to have a strong lead heading into Sunday's election for Paraguayan president, aided by a booming economy under his party.

Mario Abdo Benitez has promised to continue the business-friendly policies of outgoing President Horacio Cartes and he's downplayed any fears of a return to the heavy-handed past of Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled from 1954 to 1989. Abdo's father was Stroessner's private secretary.

Recent polls showed him with a more than 20 percentage point lead over his closest rival, 55-year-old lawyer Efrain Alegre of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party, who also finished second in the last election.

The two candidates have similar platforms, promising to attract foreign investment to create jobs in an economy that has been one of the fastest-growing in the region but still suffers from high poverty levels, extreme inequality and endemic corruption. Both also are social conservatives who have criticized sex education and abortion rights.

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