Ex-bishop leads Paraguay presidential vote

By Hilary Burke

ASUNCION (Reuters) - Opposition leader and former Roman Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo led Paraguay's presidential election on Sunday and appeared poised to end more than 60 years of one-party rule, exit polls and early results showed.

Paraguay's electoral court said Lugo had a lead of more than 6 percentage points over ruling Colorado Party candidate Blanca Ovelar with returns in from 16 percent of polling stations.

Four exit polls showed Lugo triumphing with between 40 percent and 43 percent of votes, ahead of Ovelar, who captured between 36 percent and 38 percent support.

Lugo greeted dozens of supporters at his campaign headquarters, shaking a raised fist and kissing a Paraguayan flag draped around his neck.

"We can say today that the little people are also capable of winning," Lugo said, although he stopped short of claiming victory.

The 56-year-old left his post as bishop three years ago, saying he felt powerless to help Paraguay's poor, and he launched his political career the following year.

He headed a center-left coalition at the election. He calls himself an independent and has steered clear of South America's more radical leftist leaders, such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales in Bolivia, but is seen as a likely ally of moderate leftist presidents in the region.

"I'm supporting Lugo because he cared about poor people when he was bishop and I think he's honest and won't steal from the Paraguayan people like all the other politicians have," said Pedro Ramirez, a 19-year-old street vendor.

Ovelar is the first woman to run for president of Paraguay, a poor South American country known for corruption and contraband. Fraud allegations and bitter divisions marred her party's primary election and weakened support for her.

Retired army Gen. Lino Oviedo, who was freed from prison last year after the Supreme Court overturned his sentence for plotting a coup in the mid-1990s, was trailing in third place.

The Colorado Party has dominated Paraguayan politics since it took power in 1947, and it backed Gen. Alfredo Stroessner's brutal 35-year dictatorship until helping to oust him in 1989.

A landlocked country dwarfed by wealthier neighbors Argentina and Brazil, Paraguay relies economically on agricultural and hydroelectric power exports. But nearly four in every 10 Paraguayans are poor.

(Additional reporting by Mariel Cristaldo, Daniela Desantis, and Antonio de la Jara; Editing by Kieran Murray)