ASUNCION: Paraguay held local elections Sunday, a midterm test for conservative President Horacio Cartes two years after he took office.
The key race is for mayor of the capital Asuncion, where the candidate for Cartes's Colorado party, incumbent Arnaldo Samaniego, is fending off a strong challenge from TV presenter Mario Ferreiro, who is running for a center-left coalition.
The Colorados have controlled Asuncion for 15 years.
Cartes, whose term ends in 2018, called the elections a "grand referendum" on his time in office so far.
"It's going to go well for my party. The Colorado party is very popular, and I believe it will have a good election," the president told AFP.
Paraguay's four million registered voters are electing 250 mayors and more than 2,500 town councilors.
These are the South American country's 10th elections since dictator Alfredo Stroessner was ousted in 1989 after 35 years in power.
They are the first to feature ballots in both Spanish and Guarani, the indigenous language that is Paraguay's second official language.
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