Thousands of people took to the streets across Honduras on Sunday, demanding a new president and an end to a week-long election debacle that has plunged the troubled country into its worst political crisis since a coup in 2009. todaytimesnews
Out with JOH” was the unifying slogan, chanted by protesters who accused opposition coalition leader Salvador Nasrallah of rigging the vote count to deny him victory.
The country's beleaguered Electoral Commission (TSE) made a long-awaited announcement on how it plans to resolve the crisis as March begins.
After a week of delays, deliberations and accusations of bias and incompetence, the chief magistrate of the TSE, controlled by the ruling National Party, announced that the winner of the election would be declared after a recount of only 1,000 questionable votes.
The alliance, which has a list of 11 demands to ensure a fair and transparent vote count, called the decision insufficient and said it would not participate in the recount or accept the results. When this news spread, the protesters started honking loudly and throwing firecrackers.
"The latest decision is one of organized action during the electoral process that we refuse to recognize ... We will not allow this to happen, because we will not allow another Hernandez government," said Dina, 34, an anthropologist, marching in Tegucigalpa.
Comments