Opposition demands full recount of disputed Honduras election

TEGUCIGALPA: Honduras appeared set for a recount of its election Tuesday after incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernandez welcomed a demand by the opposition to re- open ballot boxes, a week into a crisis triggered by rigging claims.

The small Central American nation of 10 million people has been plunged into uncertainty punctuated with clashes since the Nov 26 election pitting Hernandez against leftwing former TV presenter Salvador Nasralla, with both sides claiming victory.

Hernandez ordered a state of emergency last Friday to curb protests and pillaging, but at least one death was reported in clashes after thousands staged defiant demonstrations.

His authority looked fragile as hundreds of police officers refused to enforce a nighttime curfew late Monday. Officers returned to work Tuesday on condition that the government would not force them to repress protesters.

In the first hours after the vote, Nasralla looked on track to comfortably win.

But then counting of ballots was delayed multiple times, with election authorities speaking of computer malfunctions, before results trickled out that credited Hernandez with a slight lead.

TheSupremeElectoralAuthority ultimately said Hernandez won 42.98 per cent, against 41.39 per cent for Nasralla – but refused to name a winner, saying appeals might challenge the result. — AFP

Houthi followers rally to celebrate the killing of Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen. — Reuters photo

Police officers speak to the media outside the headquarters of Honduras’ elite police force, after an agreement with the government not to crack down on demonstrators in the marches over a contested presidential election, according to local media, in...