Honduras opposition bid to annul president's re-election rejected

Election officials in Honduras on Friday rejected the opposition´s appeal demanding the annulment of President Juan Orlando Hernandez´s re-election, which was lodged over voter fraud allegations in the bitterly disputed poll.

The country´s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), in a statement, cited a lack of evidence and dubbed the opposition´s actions “groundless.” Election officials declared Hernandez the victor after he narrowly defeated leftist opposition candidate Salvador Nasralla in the November 26 vote. Speaking on television Nasralla vowed a new appeal before the Supreme Court of Justice as well as a Saturday march protesting the ruling. Nasralla conceded on December 22 shortly after Honduras´ key ally Washington endorsed Hernandez´s re-election, following a month of deadly street clashes.

But he then came back with the Opposition Alliance Against the Dictatorship to demand the election results be annulled. International monitors from both the OAS and the European Union noted irregularities in the election process, which the former said had been of “poor quality.” According to election officials, the final results showed the conservative Hernandez winning with 42.95 percent of the vote, over Nasralla´s 41.42 percent. Hernandez, 49, stood for re-election against Nasralla, a 64-year-old former TV presenter, despite a constitutional ban on presidents serving more than one term. He plans to officially begin his second term January 27 with a “simple ceremony.”