A WEALTHY rancher was due to be declared Honduras’s new president yesterday after a tumultuous election dogged by the overthrow of his predecessor.
Preliminary results gave Porfirio Lobo 56 per cent of votes, prompting cavalcades of cheering supporters, many sounding their car horns, in the streets of the capital, Tegucigalpa. His nearest rival, Elvin Santos of the ruling Liberal party, conceded defeat.
Mr Lobo, from the centre-right National party, promised to unify a country polarised by the military-led coup against Manuel Zelaya in June, a political shock which rattled Latin America and left Honduras isolated and stripped of aid and investment.
The supreme electoral tribunal said 61 per cent of registered voters cast ballots, a big jump from the bare half who voted in the 2005 election won by Mr Zelaya. Local media, which backed the coup, hailed a “historic” turnout.
Before results were announced, the United States, Panama and Peru signalled they would accept the election as a way out of the crisis. Canada and the European Union are expected to follow suit.
The US said yesterday that the controversial election was a significant but not sufficient step in its efforts to restore democracy. Without directly answering if the US would officially recognise Mr Lobo as the next president, assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs Arturo Valenzuela said only that Washington “recognised the results” and that Mr Lobo would be Honduras’ next president.
But critics said the election was neither free nor fair and had whitewashed the coup. Leftist governments including those of Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela said they would not recognise the vote, branding it a farce which could embolden coup-minded conservative forces across the region.
Mr Zelaya, who was not on the ballot, had called for a boycott. After polls closed, he said information from one-quarter of polling stations indicated only some 35 per cent voted. “As president of Honduras, I declare this process illegitimate,” he said.
In the absence of established international observer groups, who shunned the election, it was difficult to verify the turnout. Officials gave estimates ranging from just 30 per cent in poor areas to as high as 70 per cent in wealthier ones.
“I voted because we need a way out of this crisis,” said Yesenia Ramos (31), showing a green-stained finger outside a polling station in Cementerio, a slum in Tegucigalpa. “My brother has lost his job, businesses are closing. We’ve all been affected.” Metres away men foraged for food on a mound of putrid rubbish.
Voting was mostly peaceful but security forces used tear gas and batons to break up a demonstration in the city of San Pedro Sula. A day earlier, they raided the offices of pro-Zelaya groups, saying they were looking for weapons and evidence linked to small home-made bombs which had damaged polling centres.
In recent weeks, the de facto authorities curbed civil liberties and cracked down on critical media and Zelaya supporters, leaving hundreds injured and detained and at least 10 reportedly killed. Amnesty International demanded the identities and whereabouts of people arrested yesterday be revealed.
Mr Zelaya, a wealthy logger-turned leftist populist, was seized and exiled on June 28th after congress, the army, the supreme court and his own party objected to his deepening alliance with Venezuela’s socialist president, Hugo Chavez. They accused Mr Zelaya of plotting to extend his rule, a charge he denied. The election date and candidates were chosen long before the coup. The de facto president, Roberto Micheletti, was not on the ballot. A pro-Zelaya candidate withdrew, leaving the field dominated by the traditional ruling elite.
Mr Lobo (61), a veteran congressman known by the nickname “Pepe”, hinted criminal charges against Mr Zelaya would be dropped, and appealed to foreign governments to recognise his mandate once sworn in on January 27th. – (Guardian service)