Honduras has announced curfew amid vote protests

Honduras announced a curfew and suspended some constitutional rights to allow security forces to contain protests and unrest over a disputed election in which both candidates have declared themselves winner and the ballot count is entering its sixth day.

Honduras' electoral court had finished counting nearly 95 percent of the vote boxes from last Sunday's presidential election by late yesterday and said it would conduct a hand count of 1,031 other boxes that presented "inconsistencies."

Incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernandez held a lead of more than 46,000 votes over challenger Salvador Nasralla before the last-stage count. It was not immediately clear how many votes could be at play in the uncounted boxes, reports AP.

As the wait for election results has dragged on rockwielding protesters have increasingly taken to the streets against riot police armed with tear gas, batons and water cannons. National Police spokesman Jair Meza said 12 people had been wounded in clashes between police and protesters.

Meza said numerous businesses were also damaged and looted in the capital and in San Pedro Sula. Local press reported that protesters set a bank branch on fire and looted several other businesses along a street in San Pedro Sula. Groups of demonstrators also continued blocking highways with burning tires and other debris, in some cases forcing parents to carry their children through the smoking barriers. In a decree read out on radio and television, the government's Cabinet chief Jorge Hernandez said late on Friday that some constitutional guarantees would be suspended for 10 days to allow the army and police to control the situation.

The government declared a curfew from 6 PM to 6 AM across the country. "The curfew is to safeguard the security of the country," President Hernandez said as he left a hotel in the capital after meeting with observers from the Organisation of American States and the European Union.