Hondurans wait for delayed vote count results for leftist candidate’s victory

A man eats by a newsstand displaying the cover story of the primary results of the general election in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, November 29, 2021. REUTERS / Jose Cabezas

November 30, 2021

By David Alire Garcia and Gustavo Palencia

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – The long delay in the counting of votes for Sunday’s presidential election in Honduras sent the Central American nation into a state of suspense as it moved into Tuesday as it looked as if the right-wing candidate Description Xiomara Castro won the commanding victory.

After taking a nearly 20 percentage point lead over her closest opponent with more than half the vote, Castro and her supporters had to wait after the vote tally came to a sudden halt near dawn one day. days after the election.

If confirmed as the winner, Castro would be Honduras’ first female president, and the leftist will return to power after a 12-year hiatus after her husband, former President Manuel Zelaya, was ousted in 2009.

Luis Guillermo Solis, head of the Organization of American States (OAS)’s election observation mission, told Reuters: “I hope not to have to wait many more days.

The delay in the counting of votes has rekindled memories of the 2017 election, when the opposition candidate’s lead suddenly evaporated after the electoral commission restarted the counting of votes after an election. suspended for a long time.

That has given rise to accusations of fraud and deadly protests, but so far there has been no unrest, with voters viewing Castro’s much larger lead this time as a coup. guaranteed victory.

The impoverished country elections are the latest political struggle in Central America, where chronic unemployment, crime, corruption and the threat of transnational drug cartels have helped fuel record number of emigration to the United States.

Before the tally was halted, Castro had won nearly 54 percent of the total vote nationwide, with candidate Nasry Asfura of the ruling National Party, coming in second with 34 percent.

Castro on Twitter celebrated a “national resounding victory” after her supporters danced, cheered and waved flags to celebrate the impending departure of incumbent conservative president Juan Orlando Hernandez. .

Hernandez was extremely famous and was implicated in a drug trafficking case in the US federal court. He denies wrongdoing, but could face an indictment when he leaves office.

OAS mission chief Solis, the former president of Costa Rica, said he expected the electoral commission to clear the results of the counting of votes as soon as possible, noting that rural ballots often take longer to count.

He pointed to Sunday’s historic vote turnout and the absence of political violence on Monday as positive developments and said early congratulations to Castro from areas beyond the grassroots support. Her support, such as business leaders, are welcome developments.

“I’ve seen public statements from a number of key sectors who have recognized Libre’s victory,” he said, referring to the leadership of Castro’s left-wing party.

“But I think we still lack the documents and the total number of votes to scrutinize,” he added.

(Reporting by David Alire Garcia and Gustavo Palencia; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)