The president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, stated this Wednesday that the democracy of her country is going through «serious difficulties» and called on militants of the ruling Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre, left) to «not allow» the manipulation of election records and to demand a count «vote by vote».
«Today I have convened you because the country is once again going through a crisis, today democracy in Honduras is in serious difficulties, they want to manipulate our democracy and make decisions that only the people can make, those decisions in the only democratic opportunity the people have to express themselves,» Castro emphasized to supporters gathered at the Presidential House in Tegucigalpa.
The head of state urged Libre militants to «not allow the records to be manipulated» so that the electoral results of last November 30 reflect the will of the citizens.
«Vote by vote»
Castro assured that her government's commitment is for the count to be done «vote by vote», so that the scrutiny will emanate «the will of the people» and asked Libre supporters, whose general coordinator is her husband and main advisor, former President Manuel Zelaya, to manifest themselves peacefully because «democracy is defended on its feet, not in silence».
«Let's continue defending the people's votes, let's do it and wait to see the resolutions that come out, but the people must demand the vote by vote, this way we can continue building a democracy, that democracy that we dreamed of for twelve years and seven months,» she stated.
The candidate for the conservative Liberal Party, Salvador Nasralla, has also on several occasions requested a recount «vote by vote» of all the records, alleging inconsistencies in the count.
However, the Supreme Electoral Court (CNE) stated this Wednesday that the law does not allow for a total count without legally accredited causes and warned that this measure could distort the special scrutiny, which has not started due to several problems.
According to the preliminary results of the CNE, with 99.80% of the records scrutinized, Nasry «Tito» Asfura, presidential candidate of the conservative National Party and backed by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, leads the vote with 40.54% of the votes.
In second place is Nasralla with 39.19%, while the Libre candidate, Rixi Moncada, is relegated to third place with 19.29% of the votes, with 99.80% of the electoral records scrutinized.
Moncada stated today that Honduras is facing the pressure of a «great empire» and again demanded the annulment of what she called «the most fraudulent elections in history».
She pointed out that the November 30 elections constituted «a brutal electoral blow» by external actors and internal allies, with the objective of «making disappear» the Libre party.
Libre seeks «the truth» of the elections
For his part, former President Zelaya assured that «there is no doubt» that the elections are «vitiated by nullity» and demanded that the «ballot boxes be opened» to reveal «the truth» of the elections, which he described as an «electoral fraud».
«Today they are threatening us again from the north, saying that whoever obstructs the fraud they have set up, will pay consequences in this country, I already paid the consequences for having faced the empire and the great de facto powers and I did not surrender,» he stressed.
The Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs today demanded that Honduras immediately begin a «special scrutiny process» to finalize the election results and warned that «any call to disturb public order or the work of the CNE will have consequences».
