July 14, 2008

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The vast majority of people in Paraguay would like the country to reform its main body of law, according to a poll by GEO released by Última Hora. 63.9 per cent of respondents would support a call for the creation of a National Constituent Assembly to re-write Paraguay’s Constitution.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The vast majority of people in Paraguay would like the country to reform its main body of law, according to a poll by GEO released by Última Hora. 63.9 per cent of respondents would support a call for the creation of a National Constituent Assembly to re-write Paraguay’s Constitution.

In April, Paraguayans voted in presidential and legislative elections. Fernando 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 is expected to be sworn in on Aug. 15.

On Jul. 8, Paraguayan citizens living in Argentina, the United States, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada called for a constitutional reform in order to allow expatriates to vote in general elections. Celso Chamorro, one of the meeting’s leaders, declared: "Article 120 of the [Paraguayan] Constitution must be changed, because it says that Paraguayans can only exercise their civic right [to vote] while in the national territory."

In the past three years, two South American countries—Bolivia and Ecuador—have worked to re-write their constitution. Neither of the two documents has been fully ratified.

Polling Data

Would you support or oppose calling for the creation of a National Constituent Assembly to re-write Paraguay’s Constitution?

Support	63.9%
Oppose	9.6%
Not sure / No answer	26.5%

Source: GEO / Última Hora
Methodology: Telephone interviews to 1,212 Paraguayan adults, conducted from Jun. 20 to Jul. 3, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.