U.S. backs re-election of Honduran president despite vote controversy
WASHINGTON/TEGUCIGALPA, (Reuters) - The United States on Friday backed the re-election of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez despite widespread misgivings about the vote count, prompting the opposition candidate to describe his bid for the presidency as a “lost cause.”
The Honduran electoral tribunal declared Hernandez winner of the Nov. 26 election last weekend amid strident opposition protests over the vote count in the impoverished Central American country, which is a major hub for drug trafficking.
The vote tally had initially clearly favored opposition candidate Salvador Nasralla, a center-leftist, but it swung in favor of the incumbent after a 36-hour delay.
After the United States weighed in, Nasralla was pessimistic about his chances of winning support in Honduras, claiming in an interview with Reuters that the nation’s supreme court and electoral tribunal are in Hernandez’s camp.
But he maintained that he had a path to victory at the international level, noting the Organization of American States (OAS) had called for new elections to resolve the dispute.
“Nationally, we think it’s a lost cause,” he told Reuters. “But internationally, we are confident that the OAS, which understands the great fraud in Honduras, will take action so that they repeat the elections.”
Earlier in the day, Nasralla appeared all but ready to bow out of the race, saying in an interview with TV network France TV that his political career was over.
“The situation is practically decided,” he told the network. “I no longer have anything to do in politics, but the people, which are 80 percent in my favor, will continue the fight.”
The United States followed Mexico and other Latin American countries in supporting Hernandez, who has been a reliable U.S. ally.