Honduras hopes to regain international legitimacy with election despite boycott call

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Honduras hopes to move past coup with election

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras has a newly elected president. The question is whether he can convince the world the vote was legitimate and show that Hondurans want to put a summer coup behind them.

Announcing that conservative rancher Porfirio Lobo was headed for victory in Sunday’s presidential contest, election officials said more than 60 percent of registered voters cast ballots, an increase from the last election, when about 55 percent voted.

The debate has split Western Hemisphere countries, and voter turnout could determine how widely the next government is recognized.

The debate over whether Honduras should hold the election without restoring Zelaya to his office overshadowed the campaign.

Lobo, a member of the opposition National Party, led with 56 percent of the votes, with more than 60 percent of the tally sheets counted, officials of the Supreme Electral Tribunal said at a news conference late Sunday. They said Elvin Santos of Zelaya’s Liberal Party was second with 38 percent.

Lobo proclaimed the election “the cleanest in the history of the country.” Santos, of the ruling Liberal Party, quickly conceded defeat, saying it is time for “unity, the only path to confront the future and ensure the victory of all Hondurans.”

Zelaya was ousted after going ahead with plans for a referendum on changing the constitution even though the Supreme Court ruled the vote illegal, and his removal was widely supported by Honduras’ elite, including many in his own Liberal Party.

The move drew strong condemnation from the international community, but Sunday’s election split Western Hemisphere countries. The vote had been scheduled before the coup as Zelaya’s single term ends in January.

The United States, which suspended some aid to Honduras over the coup as it grappled with its first major policy test in Latin America, defended the election. U.S. diplomats said Hondurans had the right to choose their next leader.

Leaders in Brazil and other leftist governments in the region argued the ballot would whitewash Central America’s first coup in 20 years and should be repudiated.

It is Washington’s support that matters most in Honduras. The country sends more than 60 percent of its exports to the United States, from bananas to Fruit-of-the-Loom underwear, and relies heavily on money sent home from the 1 million Hondurans who live in the U.S.

Zelaya said the Obama administration would regret its stance on the election.

Police fired tear gas at several hundred pro-Zelaya protesters in the northern city of San Pedro Sula, and at least one person was injured and required stitches on his head. Police spokesman Orlin Cerrato said protests are banned on election day.

Election workers in Tegucigalpa’s slums, one of the areas of Zelaya’s support, said voting there was slow. But turnout was higher in affluent neighborhoods where resentment against Zelaya runs highest.

Zelaya has support among many poor Hondurans who believed in his promises to shake up a political system dominated by two political parties with few ideological differences and influenced by a few wealthy families.

Mauro Romero, 59, sat on the steps of the capital’s peach-colored 18th century cathedral, now covered in graffiti saying “No to the coup!” He said he would not set foot in a polling station.

“Zelaya is the president that we elected. We don’t want the same dinosaurs in power, people who have been there for 30 years, only getting fat,” Romero said.

But many Hondurans simply want to end the crisis that has eroded an already stagnant economy. Tourists have disappeared from Mayan ruins and rain forests, and multilateral lending agencies have blocked the country’s access to credit.

Lobo, 61, promised to encourage private investment to create jobs while increasing social benefits in a country where 70 percent of the 7 million people are poor.

Electoral official Denis Gomez said he thought turnout was robust, although there were no official projections. He said his most optimistic estimate was for a 70 percent turnout.

However, election workers in the slums of Tegucigalpa said turnout was slow, with some saying only about a third of registered voters had arrived by mid-afternoon.

Human rights activists accuse the interim government harrassing groups promoting abstention. On Saturday, about 50 masked soldiers and police raided the offices of Red Comal, a farm aid group in the northern town of Siguatepeque that has opposed the coup, said Miguel Alonso, the program director. He said police seized computers and documents.

“It’s no secret that we are members of the national resistance movement against the coup,” Alsonso said. “So the raid order doesn’t surprise us.”

Associated Press Writers Juan Carlos LLorca and Freddy Cuevas in Tegucigalpa and Olga Rodriguez in Mexico City contributed to this report.