Paraguayans voted yesterday for a new vice president in defiance of rumours of planned violence. The election in South America's weakest democracy is expected to unseat the world's longest-ruling party. (The previous holder of that title, the Mexican PRI, was voted out of office last month.)
Two million voters in the poor landlocked nation were choosing between two conservative candidates running neck-and-neck for a post left vacant since March 1999. The previous vice president, Luis Maria Argana, was gunned down in a contract killing.
Police were on alert after word of planned violence in the Paraguayan countryside and an Interior Ministry report that Peruvian insurgents might have entered the country.
The Colorado or Red Party has been in power for 53 years in what was one of the Western hemisphere's most odious dictatorships until it returned to uncertain democracy in 1989.
Yesterday's vote in the California-sized nation of beautiful rolling hills, rivers and forests, gave the Liberal Party its best chance in memory of gaining an executive post.
Whoever wins the vice presidency will become the most powerful democratically-elected politician in Paraguay - posing a direct threat to President Luis Gonzalez Macchi, who did not enter power via the ballot box.
Competing for the post are the opposition Liberal candidate, Mr Julio Cesar Franco, and the Colorado Party candidate, Mr Felix Argana, son of the slain vice president.
The unprecedented election is a break from the tradition of president and running mate campaigning on a one-party ticket. In the capital, Asuncion, the scene of three coup attempts in the last four years, Mr Argana prayed at his father's flower-strewn tomb and asked for calm, his voice cracking with emotion.
"We are appealing to the people not to respond with violence in the event of violent acts," said Mr Argana, who has adopted his father's solemn style and even his speeches.
A more jovial Mr Franco gave a victory `V' salute, with one finger bearing a black ink smudge which shows he had obeyed the law and voted.
"This should be a celebration. There's no reason for violence as we strengthen democracy," said Mr Franco, who in the case of victory would be the first Liberal to hold an executive post since 1939.
The Organisation of American States said it was not too concerned about rumours of violence and the multilateral political agency saw the election unfolding in a fair and peaceful manner.
The army is confined to barracks but said in a statement that Mr Macchi had instructed it to go onto the streets in the event of violent acts.
Mr Macchi was appointed president by the Supreme Court last year when former President Raul Cubas fled to Brazil, together with coup-monger Gen Lino Oviedo, both accused of masterminding Argana's death and that of seven protesters shot by rooftop snipers.
Gen Oviedo - known as the "Bonsai horseman" for his small stature and unstoppable ambition to rule Paraguay - is in a Brazilian jail awaiting extradition to Paraguay.
The results of exit polls issued early today indicated an extremely close result, with Mr Argana slightly ahead in three out of four surveys. Mr Franco's supporters were unwilling to concede defeat.