Honduras: 2 Killed in Honduran Post-Presidential Election Protests | teleSUR

Honduran armed forces have been engaged in violent clashes with Nasralla supporters as the Opposition Alliance team called for fresh demonstrations. According to former presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla, two additional people were killed while protesting Honduras’ alleged fraudulent election results. Nasralla said in a tweet, “They just killed 2 more today 23/1/18 in SPS (San Pedro Sula) and another in Arizona, Atlantida. I can’t sit and dialogue with someone who kills my compatriots. I demand that as the winner of the election, according to the majority, that the killings stop and the country is demilitarized.”

Honduras: Clashes turn deadly in protests over disputed election in Honduras | AFP

Activists blocked roads and clashed with police in Honduras on Saturday as part of nationwide protests against the contested re-election of President Juan Orlando Hernandez. Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds jailed since Hernandez was declared the winner of the November 26 run-off election — after a three week stretch of often-interrupted ballot counting that stoked tensions and sparked accusations of fraud in the Central American country. The left-wing Alliance in Opposition against the Dictatorship is heading a protest campaign insisting that the election was stolen from its candidate, former TV anchor Salvador Nasrallah.

Honduras: Military clashes with protesters over president′s re-election | Deutsche Welle

One protester has been shot dead and several people arrested during the latest confrontation with authorities. Honduras has been rocked by violence since President Juan Orlando Hernandez was re-elected in November. Security forces in Honduras used tear gas against rock-throwing protesters on Saturday as anger over the country’s disputed presidential election continued to spill onto the streets, officials said. At least one person was shot dead by police in the town of Saba, 210 kilometers (130 miles) northeast of the capital, Tegucigalpa. Authorities tried to clear roadblocks of burning tires in several towns and cities following a call for a national day of strikes.

Honduras: Security forces battle protesters as election chaos lingers | Reuters

Honduran soldiers and police clashed with protesters blocking roads across the Central American country on Saturday, as discontent continues to fester nearly two months after a disputed presidential election. At least one person died as security forces launched tear gas against rock-throwing supporters of the center-left Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship and tried to clear impromptu roadblocks of burning tires they had set across the capital Tegucigalpa and around the country, according to police sources and TV images. Honduras, a poor, violent country that has long sent vulnerable migrants north to the United States, has been embroiled in a political crisis since the Nov. 26 election, which the opposition says was stolen by center-right President Juan Orlando Hernandez. At least 31 people have died in violent protests.

Honduras: National Congress Protests Reelection of Hernandez | teleSUR

Former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya has thanked members of the National Congress for protesting the reelection of Juan Orlando Hernandez (JOH) of the National Party, who is due to be sworn in on January 27. “I appreciate that the people are firm on protesting; we want reconciliation and justice, contrary to what our friends (from the National Party) say,” he said Thursday. Members were also protesting the seating of the newest assembly members elected November 26, which continues the president’s congressional majority.  

Honduras: OAS Observers Say Nasralla Won Honduras Election | teleSUR

A Honduran Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) employee has said that the director of the Organization of American States (OAS) observation team concluded that Salvador Nasralla was the legitimate winner days after voters went to the polls Nov. 26. Marco Ramiro Lobo, a magistrate within the TSE says that Jorge Quiroga – head of the OAS observation mission for the Honduran elections and former president of Bolivia – told TSE directors that Nasralla had won only days after the election was held. Lobo says the statement was made in the presence of Guatemala’s former president, Alvaro Colom, also an OAS election observer. “Ex-president Quiroga told the TSE that Salvador Nasralla had won the election” just days after polls closed. “Quiroga took a pencil and paper and calculated some numbers and concluded that Salvador Nasralla was the winner,” says Lobo.

Honduras: Thousands take to streets to demand new elections | The Independent

Thousands of protesters have staged a massive protest in Honduras’ second city over the victory of President Juan Orlando Hernandez in an election the opposition claim was fraudulent. Opposition leader Salvador Nasralla lead the protests in the city of San Pedro Sula. Addressing the crowd, he said: “We will not stop until Hernandez says he’s leaving”. It was the first march in the city since the 26 November election, and the losing candidate once again appealed to the Organisation of American States and the countries that have recognised Mr Hernandez’s victory to listen to the protesters. Former President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted by a military coup in 2009, also joined the protest, Deutsche Welle reported.

Honduras: Opposition bid to annul president’s re-election rejected | AFP

Election officials in Honduras on Friday rejected the opposition’s appeal demanding the annulment of President Juan Orlando Hernandez’s re-election, which was lodged over voter fraud allegations in the bitterly disputed poll. The country’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), in a statement, cited a lack of evidence and dubbed the opposition’s actions “groundless.” Election officials declared Hernandez the victor after he narrowly defeated leftist opposition candidate Salvador Nasralla in the November 26 vote.

Honduras: NGOs, Governments Call For Dialogue To End Honduran Election Crisis | teleSUR

International organizations and governments are backing dialogue between former presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla and president-elect of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez. The German Embassy in Honduras said it supports talks between the two parties and denounces any violence. In a release issued on Jan. 2, the Embassy stated “all responsible should be dedicated to finding a peaceful solution for the good of the entire country and to strengthen the people’s confidence of a stable democracy” in Honduras. The Coordinator of Spanish Non-Government Organizations in Honduras, or Congdeh, is also urging the Spanish government along with other European Union member states to help the Hondurans “find a legitimate (and) constitutional solution” to the current political crisis in the country.

Honduras: US silent as Honduras protesters killed in post-election violence | The Guardian

Tinsel and colored lights still adorn many houses in Choloma, a gritty manufacturing town near the Caribbean coast of Honduras, but at the home of David Ramos there are no signs of the festive season. “Christmas no longer exists for us: not this year, not any year,” said Ramos as he leafed through freshly printed pictures of his oldest son. José Ramos, 22, was killed by military police officers last month, at a protest over alleged fraud in the country’s presidential election. The contested results triggered the country’s worst political crisis in a decade and have led to the deaths of at least 30 people, according to the Committee for the Families of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (Cofadeh), a human rights group. Most of the victims were opponents of President Juan Orlando Hernández, who they say rigged the vote to beat the opposition candidate, Salvador Nasralla.

Honduras: Opposition demands annulment of president’s re-election | AFP

The Honduras opposition said Wednesday they filed an appeal with election officials demanding that President Juan Orlando Hernandez’s re-election be annulled because the recent vote was marred by fraud. Election officials declared Hernandez the victor after narrowly defeating leftist opposition candidate Salvador Nasralla in the controversial November 26 vote. Nasralla conceded on December 22 shortly after Honduras’ key ally Washington endorsed Hernandez’s re-election, following a month of deadly street clashes. Former president Manuel Zelaya, coordinator of the leftist alliance opposed to Hernandez, filed the appeal with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal late Tuesday.

Honduras: Electoral Body Rejects Alleged Vote Irregularities | teleSUR

An audit report delivered by the Electoral Observation Mission of the Organization of American States (OAS / MOE) listing irregularities in Honduras’ voting process has been denounced as “false, baseless and subjective” by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE). Among the irregularities, the observers noted that trucks moving ballots arrived at polling stations “without the accompaniment of custodians,” with “open or incomplete suitcases missing the minutes, the incident sheets and the voting papers,” and incidents of vote-buying. The TSE, however, rejected the concerns in a statement Friday, insisting that all electoral material was protected by military personnel and handled accordingly. The ballots may have arrived in a disorganized condition, it said, but they arrived safely and in their entirety.

Honduras: US recognizes re-election of Honduras president despite fraud allegations | The Guardian

The United States has recognized the re-election of Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, despite widespread allegations of fraud in last month’s election and calls from the Organization of American States (OAS) and US Congress to hold a new vote. The state department issued a statement on Friday congratulating Hernández on his victory, but also urged the country’s electoral commission to fully review any challenges to the results. “The close election results, irregularities identified by the OAS and the EU election observation missions, and strong reactions from Hondurans across the political spectrum underscore the need for a robust national dialogue. A significant long-term effort to heal the political divide in the country and enact much-needed electoral reforms should be undertaken,” said spokesperson Heather Nauert. Nauert also urged “all sides” to refrain from violence amid unrest that has claimed at least 17 lives – most of whom were protesters killed by security forces.

Honduras: In Honduras, Calls Rise for New Presidential Elections | The New Yorker

Between November 26th, the day that Honduras held its Presidential election, and December 17th, when the country’s electoral tribunal finally declared a winner, a reported twenty-two protesters were killed; the sister of the incumbent President died in a helicopter crash; and the opposition candidate, who for weeks had declared himself the President-elect, after an apparent upset, had a child. (He tweeted photos from the hospital.) For all the twists in the story, the outcome was nevertheless predictable: the incumbent, Juan Orlando Hernández, an American ally representing the Partido Nacional, which has been in power since 2009, officially won by fifty thousand votes.

Honduras: President ignores new election calls, opponent warns of ‘civil war’ | Reuters

The president of Honduras declared himself re-elected on Tuesday despite calls from the Organization of American States (OAS) for a fresh vote over allegations of fraud and deadly protests following last month’s disputed election. In Washington, his rival asked the United States and others to reject the result and cut off aid, warning that protests in which more than 20 people have died could escalate into generalized violence unless there is a new election. The opposition alliance said it would file a legal challenge to the country’s electoral tribunal’s verdict that President Juan Orlando Hernandez won the Nov. 26 election.

Honduras: President Declared Winner, but O.A.S. Calls for New Election | The New York Times

The Honduran electoral commission on Sunday declared President Juan Orlando Hernández the victor in a bitterly contested race, but the Organization of American States called for a new election, arguing that the vote was so riddled with irregularities that it was impossible to be sure of a winner. The electoral commission, which is controlled by allies of Mr. Hernández, said he had won by about 50,000 votes over the opposition candidate, Salvador Nasralla. The announcement, and the response from Luis Almagro, the secretary general of the O.A.S., seemed likely to escalate the political crisis that has gripped Honduras since the Nov. 26 vote.

Honduras: Call for fresh Honduras election after president Juan Orlando Hernández wins | The Guardian

The Organization of American States has called for fresh elections in Honduras, hours after President Juan Orlando Hernández was declared the winner. Luis Almagro – the secretary general of the OAS, a regional forum which sent an election observer mission to monitor the Honduran poll – said the process was plagued by irregularities, had “very low technical quality” and lacked integrity. The statement came after the electoral court president, David Matamoros, revealed the winner on Sunday, saying: “We have fulfilled our obligation [and] we wish for there to be peace in our country.” It follows three weeks of uncertainty and unrest following the 26 November poll. At least 17 people have died in protests amid opposition allegations of election fraud.

Honduras: In post-election limbo, Hondurans foresee next challenge: rebuilding trust | CSMonitor

When protests first exploded here in the days following Honduras’ hotly contested presidential vote, residents like Luis Carlos Hernández were swept up in the action. The young lawyer’s home is just a block away from the national vote-counting center, at the heart of the at times violent demonstrations. Amid volleys of rocks and tear gas outside his front door, Mr. Hernández ushered his 11-year-old brother and four-year-old nephew into the bathroom, covering their faces with vinegar-soaked rags to protect them from the chemicals seeping in from the street. “People want to take out these corrupt politicians, they want another system,” Hernández says of the protests that boiled over across the country, demanding more transparency about how votes have been tallied.

Honduras: U.S. at a Crossroad as It Confronts Turmoil in Honduras | The New York Times

Protests snaking through city streets, nighttime curfews, a raucous political battle over a president’s re-election: Honduras has been seized by a crisis since a disputed vote last month. The country has lived through a version of this turmoil before. Eight years ago, a leftist president was ousted by a coup in a fight over what his opponents said was a plan to overturn the constitutional ban on a second presidential term. The resistance movement that sprang up to support him has endured, and the discord that split Honduran society then still defines today’s divisions. Both in 2009 and now, the return of stability in Honduras is important to the United States, which seeks a president there who can be counted on to support American policies to stem the flow of drugs and migrants from reaching the Texas border. The question is whether the United States is willing to overlook a possibly fraudulent election to ensure that outcome.

Honduras: Election crisis: violent clashes and no winner in sight | The Week

Honduras has been shaken by a surge of political violence after its contested presidential election two weeks ago. “The extreme electoral irregularities and the charged context in which they arose are threatening to inflame instability for years to come,” Al Jazeera English writes. Incumbent Juan Orlando Hernandez, a pro-business lawyer representing the right-wing National party, officially won, but the Honduran constitution prohibits the re-election of sitting or former leaders. To get around this, The Guardian says, Hernandez used a “contentious” 2016 court ruling to justify his bid.

Honduras: Election turmoil erupts in protests, clashes | Miami Herald

Thousands of protesters marched on the U.S. Embassy in Honduras on two separate occasions over the weekend, calling for U.S. support amidst a deepening political crisis sweeping their country. Protesters claim current President Juan Orlando Hernández stole the Nov. 26 presidential election from the Opposition Alliance candidate, Salvador Nasralla, who ran on a popular anti-corruption platform. This weekend, protesters also linked their struggle to U.S. border security and immigration concerns, saying the spike in U.S.-bound migration since 2014 can be blamed on violence and impunity perpetuated by the Hernández administration and his National Party. “Before the reason for migration was uniting families and looking for better paid work. Now violence, extortion, cartels and impunity are forcing people to leave Honduras,” said Darlan Alvarado, coordinator for the Honduras chapter of Doctors of the World, which helps treat immigrants’ medical needs. Hernández’s presidency has seen widespread human rights abuses, as well as a corruption scandal involving skimming money from the social security system.

Honduras: Opposition parties ask for disputed election to be annulled | Reuters

Honduras’ two main opposition parties on Friday presented formal requests to annul the results of the still-unresolved presidential election, deepening a political crisis that has roiled the poor, violent Central American nation. The Nov. 26 vote has been marred by accusations of electoral fraud, sparking protests, a widespread curfew and a growing chorus of international concern over the situation in Honduras, which has one of the world’s highest murder rates. Opposition leader Salvador Nasralla, who trails conservative President Juan Orlando Hernandez by 1.6 percentage points according to the widely criticized official count, arrived at the election tribunal shortly before the midnight deadline to present his center-left coalition’s request.

Honduras: Opposition proposes election recount or run-off | Reuters

The Honduran opposition battling President Juan Orlando Hernandez over a disputed presidential election proposed on Tuesday that a run-off be held if authorities would not recount the entire vote. TV star Salvador Nasralla, who claimed victory in the Nov. 26 election after early results put him ahead of Hernandez, has been locked in a bitter row over the vote count since the process broke down and suddenly swung in the president’s favor. The dispute has sparked deadly protests and a night-time curfew in the poor, violent Central American country. On Tuesday, Nasralla said the electoral tribunal should review virtually all the voting cards.

Honduras: Opposition demands full recount of disputed Honduras election | AFP

Honduras appeared set for a recount of its election Tuesday after incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernandez welcomed a demand by the opposition to re-open ballot boxes, a week into a crisis triggered by rigging claims. The small Central American nation of 10 million people has been plunged into uncertainty punctuated with clashes since the November 26 election pitting Hernandez against leftwing former TV presenter Salvador Nasralla, with both sides claiming victory. Hernandez ordered a state of emergency last Friday to curb protests and pillaging, but at least one death was reported in clashes after thousands staged defiant demonstrations. His authority looked fragile as hundreds of police officers refused to enforce a nighttime curfew late Monday. Officers returned to work Tuesday on condition that the government would not force them to repress protesters.

Honduras: Thousands protest in Honduras in chaos over contested presidential election | The Guardian

Tens of thousands took to the streets across Honduras on Sunday, demanding a new president and an end to a week-long election debacle which has plunged the volatile country into its worst political crisis since a coup in 2009.  “Out with JOH” was the unifying chant, sung by protesters who accuse Juan Orlando Hernández of meddling with the vote count in order to deny victory to the opposition Alliance leader, Salvador Nasralla. The country’s beleaguered electoral commission (TSE) made a long-awaited announcement on how it plans to resolve the crisis just as the marches got under way. After a week of delays, negotiations and accusations of bias and incompetence, the chief magistrate of the TSE, which is controlled by the ruling National party, announced that the election winner would be declared after a recount of just 1,000 suspicious voting tallies.

Honduras: Worried that their election is being stolen, Hondurans take to the streets in droves | Los Angeles Times

Thousands of opposition backers waving banners and shouting anti-government ballads marched through the streets of the Honduran capital Sunday in a boisterous but peaceful repudiation of the administration of President Juan Orlando Hernandez. The mostly young demonstrators repeated the president’s initials, JOH, in a rhythmic chant — “Fuera JOH,” meaning “Out with JOH” — demanding that the president concede defeat in his reelection bid in the Nov. 26 vote. “People are fed up with the corruption, the theft, the poverty,” said Jonathan Alarcon, 28, who was part of a musical combo singing an anti-Hernandez ballad in cumbia style along the protest route. “It’s time for JOH to go.”

Honduras: Vote count tilts toward incumbent despite protests over suspected fraud | Bloomberg

Electoral authorities in Honduras seemed poised to hand the president a second term on Monday even after tens of thousands took to the streets in the biggest protests yet over suspected vote count fraud since last week’s disputed election. U.S.-backed President Juan Orlando Hernandez called for his supporters to wait for a final count as protesters from the opposition flooded streets across the country to decry what they called a dictatorship. As night fell Sunday, the sound of plastic horns, honking cars, fireworks and beaten saucepans echoed over the capital Tegucigalpa, challenging a military curfew imposed to clamp down on protests that have spread since last week.

Honduras: Election crisis festers as rivals claim victory | Reuters

Honduran police fired tear gas at rock-hurling protesters on Thursday after a contentious presidential election that looks set to drag on for two more days without a clear winner, deepening the political crisis in the Central American nation. Both center-right President Juan Orlando Hernandez and his rival Salvador Nasralla, a television game show host allied with leftists, claimed victory after Sunday’s election. The vote tally at first favored Nasralla, but then swung in favor of the incumbent after hold-ups in the count, fueling talk of irregularities.

Honduras: A U.S. Ally Says He Won Honduras’s Presidential Election. Hondurans Aren’t So Sure | The New Yorker

By 2 o’clock on Monday morning, the day after national elections were held in Honduras, two Presidential candidates had declared victory. One was the heavily favored incumbent, Juan Orlando Hernández. The other was Salvador Nasralla, a former sportscaster and political neophyte who spoke, as one journalist put it, with “the cadence of the game-show host he once was.” The results were partial but striking: with fifty-seven per cent of the vote tallied, Nasralla had a five-point lead. Blindsided but undeterred, Hernández assembled a small group of anxious supporters in Tegucigalpa, the capital, to insist that he was winning. But, as he spoke, the chief magistrate of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal—the four-person body that certifies the results—who had remained curiously silent for hours after the voting ended, announced numbers that contradicted the President. The chief magistrate added, however, that it was too early to call the election. (The Electoral Tribunal is aligned with Hernández’s party, the Partido Nacional, which controlled the vote counts at individual polling places, per an election law that party members had recently modified in Congress.)

Honduras: Ex-Sportscaster Takes Lead Over President | The New York Times

As Honduras counted votes on Monday in its presidential election, Salvador Nasralla, a former sportscaster representing a left-wing alliance, took an early lead over President Juan Orlando Hernández, an unexpected development that could reshuffle the country’s political forces if the trend holds. A victory by Mr. Nasralla would be a sharp rebuke to Mr. Hernández, an authoritarian who has maneuvered to take control over most of the country’s fragile institutions. On Monday, Mr. Nasralla began to take on the role of a president-elect, granting a radio interview to outline his policies and leading a rally of supporters in Tegucigalpa, the capital.