Honduran government attempts to cancel elections due to resounding failure

Meanwhile, groups in the ruling party Free took to the streets with roadblocks and burning tires after the call from Manuel Zelayahusband of the president and deposed in a coup in 2009, for ignoring preliminary results. This climate of tension coincides with the end of the counting and the imminent start of the special control which will define the presidency.

With 99.4% of the votes recorded, the race in Honduras shows a defined scenario: the National Party retains first place with 1,298,835 votes for Asfura (40.53%), followed closely by the Liberal Partywhose candidate Salvador Nasralla totals 1,256,428 votes (39.21%). On the other hand, the ruling Free Party is relegated to a distant third place, with 618,448 votes for Rixi Moncada (19.30%). The difference between the top two is 42,407 votes, as the ruling party faces a defeat it can no longer reverse.

Castro, limited to one term, said Tuesday: “I condemn the interference of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, when he threatened the Honduran people that if they gave the vote to a courageous and patriotic candidate of the Free Party, Rixi Moncada, there would be consequences.” He also said that Honduras experienced “a process marked by threats, coercion, manipulation of the TREP and the alteration of popular will.” The results, he argued, “are tainted with nullity” in relation to the campaign itself.

The special countdown is the phase in which the National Electoral Council (CNE) examines one by one the reports which present inconsistencies, transmission errors or data that do not correspond to the records in the table. It is activated when the preliminary system leaves minutes pending which cannot be included in the calculation without manual verification. In this case, there are 2,773 minutes, or about 17% of the total. The CNE brings together technicians, party representatives and international observers to compare each physical recording with the digital information sent on election day. It is only after this examination that the results are validated or corrected.

The difference between the first two candidates being narrow and the recount system having suffered from prolonged failures, it is during this special recount that the president will be confirmed. This newspaper found failures in the biometric registration system and was expelled by members of the Free Party while trying to observe a recount of votes at the National Autonomous University ballot boxes.

It is true that a member of the CNE, Marlon Ochoasaid last week that Honduras had emerged from “the most manipulated election in our history” and denounced that the recount system is “a real trap.” He claimed that the region had never experienced “manipulation” like that of these elections and presented seven points to argue for an “electoral coup”. Among them, the elimination of biometric control, errors in 86.6% of the transmitted minutes, structural failures of the simulation, an ignored audit report, automatic falsification of votes, transfer of votes between parties and the unjustified retention of 1,615 minutes for 40 hours stand out.

But Ochoa, from the Free Party, is one of three members of the CNE, the other two coming from the other parties in the running. Furthermore, Ochoa was involved in the organization of primaries and in the preparation of these elections. The army was responsible for the logistics of the vote, as required by Honduran law. Castro is president and at the same time acting defense minister.

Criticism on three fronts

The government has focused its criticism on three fronts: the CNE, the National Party and the alleged interference of the United States through Trump. Furthermore, the center-right opposition Liberal Party accuses the National Party of profiting from these failures because the fall of the system coincided with the moment when its candidate, Nasralla, took provisional leadership.

It also highlights that more than 2,000 minutes with inconsistencies are concentrated in areas where the National Party historically has strong mobilization and control structures. Regarding Trump, the argument is that his explicit support for Asfura, his warnings against Moncada and his accusation of Nasralla for “splitting the vote” constituted unprecedented external pressure.