I called it:
"Ruling party holds on to presidency in Honduras" by Alberto Arce | Associated Press, November 27, 2013
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduran voters have given the ruling National Party four more years in the presidency even though crime worsened and poverty and unemployment increased in this poor nation under outgoing President Porfirio Lobo.
I merely noted rig job in the margin of my paper.
UPDATE: Rigged Honduras Elections
Juan Orlando Hernandez, 45, the party’s candidate who campaigned on a law-and-order platform, has all but won the hotly contested presidential race, electoral authorities said late Monday in declaring his lead ‘‘irreversible.’’
Even before the announcement, his main competitor, Xiomara Castro, had challenged the official returns and claimed victory for herself. Her husband, former president Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted in a 2009 coup, had said that they wouldn’t accept the results, but the campaign hasn’t spoken since the court all but declared Hernandez the winner.
Both the streets and the campaigns remained quiet Tuesday, as Hernandez issued a press release naming his transition team.
With about 68 percent of the votes counted from Sunday’s election, Hernandez had 34 percent to 29 percent for Castro in an eight-candidate field.
‘‘It’s not the final result, but it’s an irreversible trend,’’ tribunal spokeswoman Lourdes Rosales said.
Hernandez and Castro had entered the election neck-and-neck in opinion polls, and there were fears a disputed vote could bring protests and more instability. International observers, including US Ambassador Lisa Kubiske, had congratulated Hondurans on a peaceful vote with high turnout and said the vote and the count appeared to be transparent. Election observers for both the European Union and Organization of American States issued statements Tuesday confirming the findings.
Hernandez will probably face a divided Congress, whose 128 members were also elected Sunday. As a result, the political situation is unlikely to change dramatically in this failing state of 8.5 million people, which is home to the world’s highest homicide rate. It has been a focal point for US drug enforcement efforts as the transit point for much of the South American cocaine heading to the United States.
Hey, Hondurans are obviously happy with that.
More than half of the country lives in poverty, and the number working for less than the minimum wage of $350 a month has grown from 28 percent in 2008 to 43 percent.
Castro’s candidacy was viewed as an attempt by Zelaya to make a comeback after his term was cut short by a coup that continues to contribute to the political instability.
Which is all but forgotten since it was supported by U.S. and western interests.
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