Honduras election: Opposition candidate Castro in the lead

[muriel_volestrangler]

Honduran opposition candidate Xiomara Castro has a commanding lead in the country's presidential election, preliminary results suggest.

With half of the votes counted, the left-wing candidate is ahead of the governing party's Nasry Asfura by almost 20 percentage points.
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The National Party won the presidential election in November 2009, just months after Ms Castro's husband, Mel Zelaya, was ousted in a military coup.
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In a reference to President Juan Orlando Hernández, who has been dogged by allegations of ties to the drugs trade after his brother Antonio was jailed for trafficking in the United States, Ms Castro promised during her campaign to "pull Honduras out of the abyss" of "a narco-dictatorship and corruption".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-59459660

Looks promising.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Xiomara Castro's Likely Victory In Honduras A 'Triumph For Democracy Over Corruption And Election Ir

Xiomara Castro’s Likely Victory In Honduras A ‘Triumph For Democracy Over Corruption And Election Irregularities’ – OpEd
November 30, 2021 CEPR 0 Comments
By CEPR

The likely victory by Libre Party presidential candidate Xiomara Castro is a “triumph for democracy over corruption and election irregularities,” Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) Co-Director Mark Weisbrot said today. With 51.45 percent of total votes cast, the National Electoral Council (CNE, for its Spanish initials) of Honduras shows Castro obtained 53.61 percent of the vote. Runner-up Nasry Asfura of the governing National Party received 33.87 percent, with Liberal Party candidate Yani Rosenthal at 9.21 percent, in this preliminary count. Voter participation was over 68 percent, according to the CNE.

“Xiomara Castro’s likely victory is a testament to the will of the Honduran people to have their voices heard and their votes counted,” Weisbrot said.

“Democracy remains very fragile in Honduras,” Weisbrot warned. “This is a country that saw the military kidnap the president at gunpoint and fly him out of the country just 12 years ago, and there was very strong evidence that the elections of 4 years ago were stolen.”

The results are not final yet, and as of 12:45 p.m. EST, the CNE had not updated the election results since 7:55 a.m. EST this morning. Asfura has yet to concede, and some National Party leaders had claimed victory, despite the early results. Considering that the National Party was ultimately declared the winner of the 2017 elections, despite the statistical near-impossibility of such an outcome, many observers urge vigilance ahead of the final, official results.

More:
https://www.eurasiareview.com/30112021-xiomara-castros-likely-victory-in-honduras-a-triumph-for-democracy-over-corruption-and-election-irregularities-oped/

[Judi Lynn]

2. Amid slow vote count, Honduran leftist Castro eyes victory with big lead

November 29, 2021
5:47 PM CST
Last Updated 6 hours ago
Americas

By Gustavo Palencia and David Alire Garcia

5 minute read

TEGUCIGALPA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Honduran presidential candidate Xiomara Castro looked set to put the left back in power 12 years after her husband was ousted in a coup, even as the vote count for Sunday's election unexpectedly paused for hours on Monday.

Castro, who would be the Central American nation's first woman president, has promised big changes in Honduras including a constitutional overhaul, United Nations support in the fight against corruption, and looser restrictions on abortion.

She has also floated the idea of dropping diplomatic support for Taiwan in favor of China, a policy proposal keenly watched in Washington, Beijing and Taipei.

With just over half the ballots counted, Castro, the wife of former President Manuel Zelaya, held a nearly 20-point lead over conservative Nasry Asfura, the mayor of capital Tegucigalpa and candidate of the ruling National Party, who won 34% according to a preliminary tally. However, the tally had not been updated for over 10 hours by Monday afternoon.

More:
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/honduras-set-woman-president-leftist-castro-declares-victory-2021-11-29/