HONDURANS VOTED for a new president yesterday in a controversial election that coup leaders hope will draw a line under the overthrow of Manuel Zelaya.
The de factogovernment pushed for a high turnout to try to legitimise the poll and end a crisis that has isolated one of Latin America's poorest countries.
Queues formed early in morning sunshine at polling stations in the capital, Tegucigalpa, but it was unclear if most would join what the authorities and pro-coup media dubbed a “fiesta electoral”.
Thirty thousand soldiers, police and reservists mobilised to oversee the vote and deter pro-Zelaya protests. Home-made explosives have damaged several polling centres in recent days but no serious injuries were reported.
Mr Zelaya, who was seized and exiled by soldiers on June 28th, said the poll should be delayed until democracy was restored. He urged a boycott.
“Abstention will defeat the dictatorship,” he told Radio Globo from the Brazilian embassy, his refuge since sneaking back into the country in September. “The elections will be a failure.”
Congress, the army, the supreme court and Mr Zelaya’s party toppled him because of his alliance with Venezuela’s socialist president, Hugo Chávez. They accused the logger-turned-politician of plotting to extend his rule, a charge he denied.
Neither Mr Zelaya nor Roberto Micheletti, the de facto president who replaced him, were on the ballot for yesterday’s vote.
The two main candidates were Porfirio Lobo and Elvin Santos, wealthy businessmen from the ruling elite.
Five months of political and economic convulsions have flushed away aid and investment, made the country an international pariah and left Hondurans weary and anxious.
“We can’t go on like this,” said Reina Metia (73), a seamstress, on her way to vote on Avenida Guanacaste, a block from the heavily guarded Brazilian embassy.
“Mel was a good president,” she said, referring to Mr Zelaya by his nickname, “but now we need to move on.”
The election date and candidates were chosen long before the coup. The campaign has been marred by curbs on civil liberties and crackdowns on Zelaya supporters. Marches were broken up with clubs and tear gas, hundreds were detained and beaten and at least 10 reportedly killed.
“This is an illegitimate election, it cannot be recognised,” said José Ibrahim Mesa, taking part in a small demonstration in front of the congress building, guarded by soldiers with riot shields.
Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela and other leftist governments in the region said they would not recognise the result because it allows the coup to stand.
They criticised the US for softening support for Mr Zelaya and emboldening the de facto regime.
In addition to the US, Panama, Peru and Costa Rica suggested they would accept the vote. Costa Rica’s president, Oscar Arias, said Honduras’s poor would suffer most if the coffee exporter was shunned as a central American version of Burma.
– (Guardian service)