Paraguayan leaders predict smooth vote on Sunday

By Hilary Burke

ASUNCION (Reuters) - Paraguay's presidential candidates and its outgoing leader predicted an orderly election on Sunday, easing previous warnings of fraud and violence.

Front-runner Fernando Lugo rejected the idea that violence could break out on election day, and President Nicanor Duarte Frutos also struck a moderate tone on Friday after saying earlier in the week that foreign "agitators" backing Lugo might take up arms if their candidate lost.

"I don't believe in this possible violent scenario," Lugo told foreign correspondents at his campaign headquarters on Friday. "All of our elections have been peaceful, regardless of the results."

A former Roman Catholic bishop, Lugo heads a center-left coalition and leads polls with between 30 percent and 40 percent support in Paraguay, a landlocked South American country known for corruption and contraband.

He is in a close race with ruling Colorado Party candidate Blanca Ovelar -- the first woman to run for president of Paraguay -- and retired army Gen. Lino Oviedo of the rightist UNACE party.

Lugo aims to end the 61-year rule of the Colorado Party, which is the world's longest-serving political group still in power. The Colorado Party backed Gen. Alfredo Stroessner's 35-year dictatorship until helping to oust him in 1989.

Supporters of Lugo and Ovelar scuffled briefly in Asuncion on Thursday night.

"Many people see a change in Paraguay's political scene after 60 years as something apocalyptic. But our alliance wants to affirm that this will be a genuine, transparent transition ... peaceful, open to dialogue, serene and mature," Lugo said.