In case anyone else run into the same problem as I did...:
I had an old compiz-switch package installed on my system. It has a "Priority: low" denotation in the package, which happens to break the installer somewhere mid-way.
A few manual edits of the package files fixed this and allowed me to run a "apt-get dist-upgrade -f", so I got my system running again.
But in case anyone sees this before attempting an upgrade: I guess remove the compiz-switch package (completely) before doing the upgrade may be advisable.
-- Per.
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