(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Few people in Paraguay are content with the performance of Fernando Lugo so far, according to a poll by Ati Snead published in La Nación. 31.1 per cent of respondents say their president has done a good or very good job in office, while 39.5 per cent call his performance just average.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Few people in Paraguay are content with the performance of Fernando Lugo so far, according to a poll by Ati Snead published in La Nación. 31.1 per cent of respondents say their president has done a good or very good job in office, while 39.5 per cent call his performance just average.
In April 2008, Paraguayans voted in presidential and legislative elections. Lugo, a former Catholic bishop representing the left-leaning Patriotic Alliance for Change (APC), won the ballot with 42.3 per cent of the vote. Presidential candidates in Paraguay are not compelled to garner more than 50 per cent of the vote in order to win the election.
Lugo’s victory ended six decades of one-party rule in Paraguay. The National Republican Association – Red Party (ANR) had been in power since 1947, even during the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner. Lugo—who is known in Paraguay as "the Bishop of the Poor"—took office in August 2008.
In April 2009, Lugo’s personal life was the object of scrutiny, as he acknowledged that he fathered a child in 2006 while he was still a Roman Catholic bishop. Some members of the opposition called on the president to resign, but he declined to do so.
Last month, Lugo’s personal life was again in the news as he revealed he would have to undergo chemotherapy to treat a lymphatic cancer. The president is flying regularly to a specialized medical centre in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to get his treatment.
Earlier this month, Lugo said after receiving his first chemotherapy: "The treatment will take several months and I’m going to follow it meticulously to get well and serve the people who elected me to govern until 2013. So let the people remain calm. The health of the president has improved substantially."
Polling Data
How would you rate the performance of Fernando Lugo in the first two years of his mandate?
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Very Good / Good
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31.1%
|
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Average
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39.5%
|
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Bad / Very Bad
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28.0%
|
Source: Ati Snead / La Nación
Methodology: Telephone interviews to 1,200 Paraguayan adults, conducted from Aug. 3 to Aug. 12, 2010. Margin of error is 2.7 per cent.
