Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Hondurans still don’t know the preliminary results of the primaries held yesterday Sunday by three political parties, although the National Electoral Council (CNE) plans to provide the first data next Monday.
German LoboCNE Deputy Alderman stated that the first official results will take place tonight, but until now they continue to receive the suitcases with the ballots to enter the electoral logistics center, where they will be picked up and scanned.
“We have three qualified counting centers, the National, Liberal and Free Party, there the marked results are looked at, but not by trends, but officially. We hope to be able to give the first bulletin in the evening about what the results are like. the closing minutes for each polling station, ”he said.
Related: CNE prevents the Institute for Access to Public Information from entering the vote counting warehouses
“The candidates and anyone who wishes will have access to the test of the results, everyone will be able to walk around the installed centers, but apply biosecurity measures. We have to be responsible with the data we will provide, we just have to be patient”; Wolf added.
The CNE awaits the arrival in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, of election bags from across the country to start delivering results in a task that could take all week, according to the body’s president, Ana Paola Hall. .
In the Liberal Party, the second opposition force, the environment is one of uncertainty, because two of the three candidates who entered the race, Luis Zelaya and Yani Rosenthal, they assure they have won the presidential candidacy. The victory is attributed to reports of their movements and exit polls circulated by local press media, which the CNE does not recognize, which was warned in advance.
Zelaya filed a claim with the CNE to review minute by minute and count votes by vote to find out who won the election, although on Sunday he assured the victory was for his movement, as did Yani Rosenthal.
According to the latest exit reports, Rosenthal outperforms Zelaya, adding 40.8%, with 47.4%, while Ángel Darío Banegas, the third contender, tops Zelaya with 11.8%.
Luis Zelaya was the Liberal Party’s presidential candidate, founded 130 years ago, in the November 2017 general election, in which that institution received less than 500,000 votes, in its worst defeat, as well as since the 2013 election was downgraded to the second opposition force in the Parliament for Freedom and Restoration (Free), which was born in 2011.
Xiomara Castro declares himself a candidate for Libre
Libre was created after the departure of Manuel Zelaya, who had come to power on January 27, 2006 under the banner of the Liberal Party.
In Sunday’s election, Libre took four candidates in the search for the presidential candidate to run in November, with the goal of removing the ruling National Party, which has been in office for three consecutive terms and has been riddled with multiple allegations of corruption and drugs. . human trafficking.
Also: There must be clear rules for the general election: Omar Rivera
Drug trafficking allegations have mocked former President Porfirio Lobo (2010-2014), Manuel Zelaya and current President Juan Orlando Hernández in trials against drug traffickers in the United States, although the three politicians dismiss the charges.
According to exit polls, Libre’s presidential candidacy was won by Xiomara Castro, wife of Manuel Zelaya, who was a candidate in the 2013 general election, and in 2017 gave up her aspiration in favor of an Alliance against Dictatorship led by Salvador Nasralla.
According to unofficial information, Castro comes in at 76.7% of the results published so far, against 16.7% from Nelson Ávila, 3.4% from Wilfredo Méndez and 3.2% Carlos Eduardo Reina.
Mayor of Tegucigalpa is said to be the PN candidate
In the National Party, which competed with two candidates, the winner would be Nasry Ashura, mayor of Tegucigalpa since 2014, who accumulates 68% against 32% in favor of Mauricio Oliva, who has been President of Parliament for two consecutive terms.
With the exception of Yani Rosenhtal and Luis Zelaya from the Liberal Party and Xiomara Castro from Libre, who have declared themselves the winner of the elections, Nasry Asfura says that “we must be careful”, that as of today “the National Party is one only”. and that “there is no party”.
According to CNE authorities, the primary electoral process ended with “successful” elections on Sunday despite multiple issues, including the covid-19 pandemic that has hit the country since March 2020.