With the preliminary scrutiny advanced, Nasry ‘Tito’ Asfura, candidate of the conservative National Party and backed by US President Donald Trump, leads the results with 1,391,989 votes (40.34%), followed by Salvador Nasralla, of the Liberal Party (center), who totals 1,362,358 votes (39.48%).
The counselors of the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Honduras Ana Paola Hall, who chairs it, and Cossette López denounced this Monday, December 22, that they are victims of “evident political persecution” orchestrated by the State institutions to prevent the official declaration of the November general elections and stop the alternation in power.
“Our current situation responds exclusively to the obvious political persecution of which we are victims by those who do not want the declaration of elections to be made,” they stated in a statement read by López in a virtual appearance accompanied by Hall.
According to Hall and López, “the entire institutional framework” of the State has been used “with the sole interest that the alternation is not fulfilled” in the Presidency, “respect for the democratic process and the sovereignty of the people manifested at the polls on November 30.”
With the preliminary scrutiny advanced, Nasry ‘Tito’ Asfura, candidate of the conservative National Party and backed by US President Donald Trump, leads the results with 1,391,989 votes (40.34%), followed by Salvador Nasralla, of the Liberal Party (center), who totals 1,362,358 votes (39.48%).
In third place is the candidate from the ruling Freedom and Refoundation Party (Libre, left), Rixi Moncada, with 661,454 votes (19.17%).
*Read also: Honduras: The vote count has “serious delays,” denounces the president of the CNE
“Highly eventful” electoral process
The counselors assured that they have faced a “highly eventful” electoral process, marked by “constant obstacles and many undue pressures”, as well as “coercion and intimidation” that “attack” the independence of the electoral body.
The pressures, as they explained, come from the Public Ministry (Prosecutor’s Office), the Honduran Parliament, the Supreme Court of Justice and, more recently, from the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic.
Hall stressed that any attack on an electoral authority “does not have a personal nature, but rather seeks to affect a fundamental process for democracy” and said that they have received “serious and worrying information”, including “totally unfounded criminal conduct” that “lacks legal support” and generates an “adverse environment that puts at risk” their security and the “normal development of the electoral process.”
Given this situation, Hall pointed out that “preventive measures” have been adopted that do not imply “abandonment of functions or breach of responsibilities” and stressed that they continue to act with “absolute responsibility and diligence” in the face of the multiple obstacles faced by the CNE.
Likewise, she assured that, despite the criticism and pressure, both she and López continue to perform their functions “remotely, in accordance with the Honduran legal framework”, permanently supervising all the actions necessary for the conclusion of the electoral process, with the aim of “avoiding risks, preserving its integrity and not hindering the declaration” of the results.
The president denied reports about a kidnapping or foreign coercion and denounced that, on the contrary, it has been national authorities who have exercised “intimidation and coercion”, affecting the normal functioning of the CNE.
With information from the EFE agency
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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