PROFILES: Paraguay's presidential candidates

(Reuters) - Paraguayans vote for a new president on Sunday with three main candidates competing. The person who captures the most votes will win, with no minimum threshold set. Here are short portraits of the top candidates.

FERNANDO LUGO

A former Roman Catholic bishop in one of Paraguay's poorest districts, Lugo left the priesthood to run for office, vowing to tackle inequality and widespread corruption.

He is leading polls at the head of a center-left coalition called the Patriotic Alliance for Change, which seeks to end the long rule of the Colorado Party.

A gray-bearded 56-year-old, Lugo has campaigned heavily on trying to charge Brazil more money for the power it imports from the gigantic, jointly owned Itaipu hydroelectric plant.

He has also promised agrarian reform to better distribute farmland and cattle ranches that are heavily concentrated in the hands of a small but wealthy elite.

Lugo has distanced himself from South America's more radical leftist leaders, such as Venezuelan Hugo Chavez and Bolivia's Evo Morales, calling himself a centrist. The political left has made few inroads in Paraguay.

BLANCA OVELAR

The first woman to run for president of Paraguay, Ovelar is a former schoolteacher who served as education minister under her political mentor, President Nicanor Duarte Frutos.