Honduran election unresolved, with television star poised to win

TEGUCIGALPA: The result of Honduras’ presidential election was still in limbo early yesterday, even after initial results suggested a flamboyant TV host was on course for a surprise victory over the US-friendly incumbent, Juan Orlando Hernandez.

One of the poorest nations in the Americas, Honduras has been blighted by years of gang violence, giving it one of the world’s highest murder rates. However, Hernandez made inroads in tackling the problem and was expected to win before the vote.

With about 70 per cent of ballots counted, TV entertainer Salvador Nasralla was leading by a margin of five points, election official Marcos Ramiro Lobo told Reuters on Monday afternoon, by which time results updates had ground to a halt. The lead was too large for Hernandez to overcome, Lobo said, without saying what percentage of the vote Nasralla secured. An initial tally encompassing more than half of ballots early on Monday gave Nasralla 45 per cent and Hernandez 40 per cent.

Later on Monday, David Matamoros, president of the electoral tribunal, said it might be ready to deliver more definitive results by tomorrow, a gap that risks stoking tension in a violent country known for electoral strife.

Nasralla, a self- described centrist, headed a left- right coalition called the Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship, and claimed victory on Monday — as did Hernandez.

Nasralla is backed by former President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted in a 2009 coup after he proposed a referendum on his reelection. The dramatic comeback by the one- time leftist risks fuelling concern in Washington.