Castro takes lead in Honduras presidential election and declares victory

LEFTIST opposition candidate Xiomara Castro holds a commanding lead as Hondurans appeared poised to remove the conservative National Party from power after 12 years of continuous rule.

Ms Castro declared herself the winner despite orders from the National Electoral Council to political parties to await official results.

“We win! We win!” announced Ms Castro, Honduras’s former first lady – who is making her third presidential run – to cheering Liberty and Refoundation (Libre) Party supporters when only a fraction of the ballots had been tallied. “Today the people have obtained justice. We have reversed authoritarianism.”

The National Party also quickly declared victory for Nasry Asfura, its own candidate and mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, but the early returns were not promising.

By early yesterday, Ms Castro’s wide early lead was holding up. With 45 per cent of the polling station tallies in, she had 53% of the votes and Mr Asfura 33%, according to the National Electoral Council preliminary count. The council said turnout was more than 68%.

Thousands of people packed the capital’s Morazan Boulevard blowing car horns, waving the Libre Party’s red flags and setting off fireworks.

Ms Castro promised a permanent dialogue with the Honduran people and said she wanted to open conversations with all sectors of society and global organisations to seek solutions for the Central American country, which is recovering from two hurricanes, troubled by gangs and enduring corruption and high levels of poverty.