News In Brief

Moderate party leading in Guatemalan election

Early returns Monday in Guatemala's elections showed a moderate party leading in the voting for a new Constituent Assembly, which will write a new constitution for the Central American nation .

The centrist Union of the National Center recieved more than 25 percent of the vote in the capital, Guatemala City. Ballots were still being counted elsewhere.

The Sunday election was projected to have attracted 1.7 million voters, a record for Guatemala, where the military has dominated the government since a CIA-backed coup in 1954.Several of the previous governments were elected amid charges of fraud.

The present head of state, Gen. Oscar Humberto Mejia Victores, Has promised to call elections for a president and congress once the new constitution is adopted.