(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-01-22 09:50

ASUNCION, Paraguay -- Paraguay's ruling party nominated a woman as its presidential candidate on Monday, a first for the South American nation, but the candidacy of Education Minister Blanca Ovelar still faces a court challenge from within the party.

Presidential candidate Blanca Ovelar participates in a televised debate in this Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007, file photo in Asuncion. [Agencies]

The Colorado Party's official nomination of Ovelar as its candidate in the April 20 presidential election came more than a month after a razor-thin primary election that was challenged by Vice President Luis Castiglione. The party's electoral commission said Monday that Ovelar won the Dec. 16 contest with a 45.04 percent to Castiglione's 44.5 percent.

Ovelar, 50, dismissed the objections to her victory. "Our campaign aims now at the election in April," she told reporters. "Our platform gives priority to the fight against poverty and to the creation of jobs."

But Castiglione is vowing to go to court to undo the nomination.

"I do not recognize and I will never accept my alleged defeat because I have proof that 30,000 votes cast for me were stolen," he said.

Ovelar's opposition is generally divided between Fernando Lugo, a left-leaning former Catholic bishop who has attracted strong support among the nation's large Indian population, and former army commander Cesar Lino Oviedo, a charismatic retired general who went to prison for plotting a coup.

Paraguayan presidents are limited to a single term. If elected, Ovelar would succeed Nicanor Duarte, whose Colorado Party has ruled uninterrupted for 47 years. She also would be the third sitting female president in Latin America, after Michelle Bachelet in Chile and Cristina Fernandez in Argentina.