Protests grow as vote count in Honduras drags on
TEGUCiGaLPa: Protesters and police clashed violently as incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernandez emerged with a growing lead for re-election following a reported computer glitch that shut down vote counting for several hours.
Challenger Salvador Nasralla has alleged fraud and said he won’t respect the official results. He’s watched an initial five-point lead diminish in recent days as official results have trickled out.
On Thursday night, Hernandez was ahead by more than 45,000 votes with nearly 93% of Sunday’s votes processed. He had 42.9% of the vote to Nasralla’s 41.4%.
Opposition supporters protested throughout the day and into the night outside the electoral court’s facilities and on major boulevards, setting up roadblocks and lighting bonfires in the streets.
Hooded demonstrators threw rocks and pieces of wood at riot police carrying batons and shields, who responded forcefully with tear gas and water cannons as calls to maintain calm were increasingly unheeded.
David Matamoros, president of the electoral court, said on Thursday that officials had not finished counting in part because overnight they had to evacuate after tear gas drifted into the building.
He said that about 2,000 electoral reports from polling sites contained “inconsistencies”, including lacking
signatures from members of the polling sites or not having seals.
Those will most likely require a special count and it was unclear how many votes were at play in those cases, he said.
Representatives of the Organisation of American States called for transparency in the count.
Honduras’ influential Private Business Council urged the electoral court to wait until all the votes are counted before announcing the result.
Across the country, columns of smoke rose from tires set ablaze in the streets.
In Tegucigalpa, protesters and riot police faced off amid billowing clouds of gas. Officers with batons and tear gas closed two central boulevards, and water cannons were deployed for crowd control.
At least four people were admitted to the University School Hospital with injuries to the head and neck.