ASUNCION: Paraguay will have a woman president for the first time in its history, at least temporarily, after outgoing leader Horacio Cartes stepped down Monday ahead of schedule. Vice President Alicia Pucheta, 68, will complete Cartes’s mandate after he resigned to become a senator. The parliament is due to confirm Cartes’s resignation and proclaim Pucheta as interim president on Wednesday. Opposition Senator Desiree Masi said she does not see Pucheta’s nomination as an advance for women in Paraguay. Despite an official campaign against endemic corruption, Paraguay remains 135th out of 180 countries on the 2017 corruption index of Transparency International.

Source: New Strait Times May 28, 2018 23:15 UTC