Tegucigalpa: Honduras has closed its doors 19,167 polling stations On a civil and democratic day that marked it A huge flow to the ballot boxes.
Long lines mixed with tricks The ruling leftist party to stay in power And with Echoes of the massive revolution Donald Trump In a country whose main economic source (remittances between one and a half million and two million immigrants) is the United States.
Caused by several electoral components MoscowIt is about 11 thousand kilometers away from the capital TegucigalpaIt intervened through one of its official spokesmen to protest the US President’s maneuvers. Something that had never happened before for the small country in Central America, under the eyes of the world in the elections that… Not only will they decide the new presidency, but they will also elect 128 deputies and 298 mayors.
The three candidates They ignored election law all day long to declare themselves winners with their own exit pollsAnd knowing what is at stake, both inside and outside the country.
Liberal Salvador Nasrallah He did not hesitate to declare victory, driven by the winds of change that blew throughout the country. “No one should decide for us: what is achieved at the ballot box must be respected throughout the country.” The popular journalist, 72 years old, asserted firmly.
It also appeared in unpublished statements from various media outlets Nasrallah leads the votes by more than 10 points over his rivals. From the beginning of the election campaign, the liberal outsider wanted to position himself among the nationalists distinguished by the former president’s drug trafficking conviction. Juan Orlando Hernandez, who has now been pardoned by Trump, And the ruling party, which is very close to the dictatorships of Venezuela and Cuba.
Bets on Polymarket in their favor also rose dramatically, exceeding 60%, once the polls closed.
And among the nationalists, their standard bearer, Nasri Asfouraalso ran a poll that gave him a winner. Motivated by ecstasy, the mayoral candidate embraced Tegucigalpa, the city he has led for years and from which he is best known by his nickname. “My father is at your service.” At the same time, he was happy with the support provided by Washington for his aspirations.
“I’m not going to come out and say contradictions or consider myself a winner, but I can tell the whole party that we have worked hard. “We know our numbers, we know our structure and we have them.” He defended Asfoura from the national leadership.
On the government side, they also spent the day considering themselves winners, even with the supposed polls provided by the collaborators who accompanied the president. Xiomara Castro And the former president Mel Zelaya Her husband.
“Rexy Moncada will be president with 38.06% of the vote.” The Freedom and Reform Party (LIBRE) confirmed this after the polls closed. “The re-establishment of Honduras is moving forward.” Xiomara’s supposed “heir” claimed.
On the other hand, the smell of long queues is strong, according to experts. Analyst Kenneth Madrid confirmed to LA NACIÓN: “There was a strong campaign in the country for citizens to go vote and change the course of the country. People want change. I stood in line to vote for three hours, that had never happened before.”
The National Electoral Council insisted throughout the day that the voter turnout was high. Nearly three million voters turned out when the majority of polling stations still had to close. “These are successful numbers, much higher than the primaries and much higher than the 2021 elections,” said Cosette Lopez, a member of the National Electoral Council, while the official level of participation was not yet known.
“We have to make a change because God does not want us to continue in the same way.”Sitting in the stands of the Olympic Village in Tegucigalpa, Maria Valencia was quietly contemplating and surprised by the heavy flow of voters to her polling stations.
While taking the opportunity to sell some local delicacies, such as coconut or banana bread, the Garifuna businesswoman expressed herself to this newspaper with profound grassroots wisdom: “The governments that reach out are only for the minorities and nothing for the people. We want change.”
Valencia was surprised by the presence of foreign journalists. Who would have told the Hondurans that they would do that? Under the eyes of the world When in the last three legislatures they suffered from A The first government is linked to drug trafficking gangs and the second is characterized by corruption and an attempt to reproduce Chavista policies and administration.
To further obscure today’s development, The ruling party announced that it would not recognize the preliminary results announced by the National Electoral Council early in the night.
It was as if they had a crystal ball in which their defeat appeared. The problem is that the obedient general repeated the same thing Roosevelt Hernandez, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Who was present with another member of the Zelaya family in the major fraud masterminded by Nicolas Maduro last year.
Zelaya and Chavismo are close allies, and in fact in recent days have incorporated Venezuelan influencers or those paid by the Miraflores Palace into their campaign.
“In your hands is the constitutional guidance on the democratic path.”Advisor to the President of the CNE, Anna Paula Hall, took the photo at Roosevelt, given the army’s previous movements. In a leak published by the newspaper El Heraldo, the general advised his men not to intervene if Libre groups attack electoral centers.
Bad versions of Chavista paramilitaries appeared in some electoral centers, but the citizens’ resolve seemed stronger than their violent methods.