Abstract
10 Hondurans were urged to go the polls November 29 to exercise their democratic rights. “The presidential elections,” declared the country’s de facto leader Roberto Micheletti, who came to power June 28 through a military coup, “will represent the strengthening of our democracy and of the civil liberties that our people demand and deserve.” The election winner, Porfirio Lobo of the rightwing Nationalist Party, captured 56% of the vote, and the Honduran Electoral Council triumphantly announced on election night that a majority of eligible voters, 61%, had participated, representing a defeat for ousted president Manuel Zelaya and the anti-coup resistance movement, which had called for a boycott. U.S. officials hailed the election as an important first step in ending the political instability that has plagued Honduras since the coup. “By voting in the November 29 presidential election in Honduras,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a press release, “the Honduran people expressed their commitment to a democratic future for their country.” She added: “They turned out in large numbers, and they threw out, in effect, the party of both President Zelaya and the de facto leader, Mr. Micheletti.” A week after the election, however, CNN.com reported that the Honduran government’s turnout figure had been overstated by more than 4%. Voter participation, in fact, “was not massive,” reporter Mariano Castillo noted, giving Legitimizing the Illegitimate: The Honduran Show Elections and the Challenge Ahead
Published Version
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