Hondurans Vote

"when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security"

I'm posting the article, but really hope Carlos can speak better on it soon.

Wall Street Journal:

Hondurans Pick a Leader to End Limbo
Conservative Rancher Wins Presidential Election, but International Acceptance Isn't Guaranteed

By NICHOLAS CASEY
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- A conservative rancher named Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo took the Honduran presidency in elections Sunday, five months after the country's last elected president was forced out of the country at gunpoint. Now Hondurans must wait to see if the international community, which has been divided over the crisis, accepts the winner as legitimate.

The results gave Mr. Lobo 56% of the vote, well ahead of Liberal Party candidate Elvin Santos at 38%, confirming voters' expected punishment of the Liberals -- party of both the deposed president and the interim government that ousted him.

While the small Central American nation is expected to get crucial support from the U.S., it will likely continue to face opposition from regional heavyweights such as Brazil and Argentina. The U.S., in agreeing to accept the winner, is now in a delicate position -- with Brazil, for example, which is housing exiled leader Manuel Zelaya in its Honduran embassy and recognizes him as president.

Hondurans Head to the Polls
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Associated Press

A soldier stood guard in the door of a polling center during presidential elections in Tegucigalpa, Sunday.
About 61% of Hondurans voted, and turnout, which was up from 2005, was seen as a crucial factor in persuading more countries to back the vote. The turnout was a loss for Mr. Zelaya, who had urged supporters to boycott the election. After the vote, Mr. Zelaya condemned the elections on CNN saying: "Absenteeism triumphed. ... These elections don't correct the coup d'etat."

Mr. Zelaya's removal at gunpoint in June caused a stir in Honduras and abroad, where the global community condemned the ouster as a coup. Honduras's political institutions, including its congress and supreme court, backed the ouster as the legal removal of a president who they said was illegally trying to get himself re-elected -- charges Mr. Zelaya denies.

Honduras's interim government has since struggled to gain acceptance and has cast the election as the obvious answer to the country's impasse. But some nations have said Mr. Zelaya would have to be restored to power to hold a credible election.

Neither of the two men claiming to be president during the past five months -- Mr. Zelaya and interim President Roberto Micheletti -- was on the ballot. The vote hands power to Mr. Lobo, a conservative rancher who was narrowly beaten by Mr. Zelaya four years ago. "It's going to be Pepe this time," said Higenio Garcia Ponce, an agricultural laborer who said he had just voted for Mr. Lobo. "There was a rupture in the Liberal Party over what happened with Zelaya."

In San Angel, a mountain village overlooking Tegucigalpa, three long lines stretched through the town's polling place as voters waited to cast their ballots. "We need change," said Roberto Ponce, 49, who voted for Mr. Lobo. While Mr. Ponce described satisfaction with Mr. Micheletti's tenure, he expressed no interest in supporting the president's party, despite having cast ballots for the liberals in past elections.

Power Struggle
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Honduran Hopefuls Look Past Zelaya The election seemed largely peaceful in the capital. Outside, there were reports of clashes between security forces and pro-Zelaya demonstrators in the second city of San Pedro Sula. Tom Loudon, co-director of the Quixote Center, a faith-based nongovernmental organization focused on social-justice issues, was among the protesters and said about 500 people were dispersed with tear gas and water cannons. Calls to the city's police department weren't returned Sunday.

Others said Zelaya supporters tried to prevent them from voting. Enrique Zelaya, a 54-year-old doctor who works for the United Nations, said he was among people in a group of 25 cars Sunday that was stopped at the border between El Salvador and Honduras by men who said they were trying to enforce Mr. Zelaya's boycott of the election. After five hours, the cars were allowed to pass, he said.

The political crisis began when Mr. Zelaya attempted to hold a referendum to gauge public interest in changing the constitution. Critics of the former president, a leftist known for his ties to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, alleged he was following in Mr. Chávez's footsteps and attempting to change the law to stay past term limits, itself a violation of Honduran law. On June 28, he was apprehended at his home and sent out of the country in his pajamas. Mr. Micheletti, the next in line for the presidency, took office.

Only the U.S., Costa Rica and Panama have said they will accept the winner, though other countries, including Mexico and Canada, appear to be leaning that way as well. The government is betting that U.S. recognition will lead other nations to back down from earlier positions. "They may not recognize the elections Sunday itself, but I believe they will at some point in the future," Mr. Lobo said Saturday.

Mr. Lobo and Mr. Santos offered differing domestic agendas but were light on specifics about how to tackle Honduras's central challenges, including reducing chronic poverty and encouraging foreign investment.

More immediately, the winner will have to deal with concerns related to Mr. Zelaya: whether to instruct Congress to reinstate him temporarily on a vote to be held Wednesday, and how to reassure the international community of the new government's legitimacy.