(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Most people in Paraguay think the administration of outgoing president Nicanor Duarte has been the most corrupt of the past five decades, according to a poll by GEO and Transparencia Paraguay. 53.2 per cent of respondents rate Duarte’s government as the most corrupt, up 15.5 points since last year.

The administration of Juan Carlos Wasmosy is second with 20.4 per cent, followed by the government of Luis González Macchi with 15.8 per cent. Less than five per cent of respondents think of the administrations headed by dictator Alfredo Stroessner, Andrés Rodríguez and Raúl Cubas Grau as the most corrupt.

Stroessner was Paraguay’s military ruler from 1954 until 1989, when he was ousted by Rodríguez in a coup. Wasmosy, whose five-year term spanned from 1993 to 1998, was convicted in 2002 of defrauding the state and was sentenced to four years in jail. González Macchi, who served as president from March 1999 to August 2003, barely escaped impeachment in February 2003, on charges ranging from corruption and fraud, to the kidnapping and torture of political rivals.

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 Stroessner’s dictatorship. Lugo is expected to be sworn in on Aug. 15, replacing Duarte.

Last month, Duarte—who had won a seat in the April legislative ballot—tendered his resignation in order to begin his term as a senator on Jul. 1 along with other elected lawmakers. The Paraguayan Senate blocked his request.

On Jul. 17, Duarte objected to the results of this particular survey by attacking his predecessors, saying, "This is obscene and pornographic, saying that we are the most corrupt government compared to Stroessner; 35 years of pillaging and larceny, of secrecy, of lack of checks and balances, of lack of institutions, of wastefulness, oh, please. The government of Rodríguez, which multiplied vice and corruption; Wasmosy, a businessman who came to power only to consolidate his fortune; González Macchi, who didn’t have any ethical standards, oh, please."

Polling Data

Which government has been the most corrupt?

Source: GEO / Transparencia Paraguay
Methodology: Interviews to 1,200 Paraguayan adults, conducted from May 16 to Jun. 10, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

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