Paraguay’s highest electoral court Saturday banned former Army Gen. Lino Oviedo from running for the presidency after the Supreme Court on Friday confirmed his 10-year jail sentence for a military coup attempt in 1996.
The Superior Court of Electoral Justice ruled Oviedo “non-eligible for the post of president of the republic.”
Oviedo was leading in polls ahead of elections scheduled for May 10.
President Juan Wasmosy’s Colorado Party chose Oviedo last year as the party’s nominee for the presidency, despite opposition from party leaders.
Oviedo, a former army commander in chief, was jailed last year by a military court set up by Wasmosy to investigate events of April 1996 when the then-cavalry general holed up in his barracks outside Asuncion in defiance of government orders.
The military court sentenced him to 10 years in jail, and Friday the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Oviedo and upheld the sentence.
The electoral court named Colorado vice presidential candidate Raul Cubas, 54, in his place as candidate.
According to private polls, Cubas is 15 percentage points behind the candidate of an opposition coalition.
