Honduras opposition demands ‘rigged’ vote be cancelled
TEGUCIGALPA: Honduras's leftwing opposition is demanding a presidential election held two weeks ago be voided and its results annulled, alleging it was ‘rigged' in favor of incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernandez.
The Alliance Against the Dictatorship coalition backing Hernandez's chief rival in the poll, Salvador Nasralla, lodged the demand late Friday with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.
Both Hernandez and Nasralla claimed victory after the November 26 election.
The electoral tribunal has not declared a winner, though the complete results it has released show Hernandez scoring a slender advantage over Nasralla – despite an initial count putting Nasralla comfortably in the lead.
The tribunal said Hernandez received 42.98 per cent of the ballots, while Nasralla got 41.38 per cent. But it said that count could be subject to appeal. The small Central American nation of 10 million has been mired in uncertainty since the election, with competing demonstrations for Hernandez and Nasralla.
Sporadic violence has occurred, prompting Hernandez to order a state of emergency with a nighttime curfew.
This is a process where there is robbery on all sides.
Police, however, have said they will not repress anti-Hernandez protests.
Amnesty International denounced “dangerous and illegal tactics” to silence dissent.
It said at least 14 people have been killed since the election, but there was no confirmation from police or other officials of that toll, at least in relation to the political crisis.
The death of one young woman and two officers have been confirmed.
Nasralla, a 64-year- old former TV presenter with minimal political experience, insists the vote was ' rigged' to deny him a clear victory.
“This is a process where there is robbery on all sides,” Nasralla said after lodging his demand with the opposition coalition's lawyer.
He initially demanded a partial, then a full recount before the opposition upped the ante further with the request to scrap the presidential election.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal on Thursday started with a partial
Nasralla, former TV presenter
recount.
But no observers from the opposition took part, making it unlikely that its results would appease Nasralla's camp.
The coordinator for the opposition coalition, former president Manuel Zelaya, called on Twitter for a national mobilisation yesterday against ‘ the fraud and the dictatorship' of Hernandez. — AFP