Tegucigalpa, Honduras
AP
—
Hondurans began voting Sunday to elect a new president, just days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced he would intervene in a close race in favor of one candidate and pardon the former president.
At a voting site in the capital, the country’s main political parties gathered outside with tables, banners, flags and music. Dozens of people lined up outside the gates of their local school and were allowed to vote about 30 minutes after voting officially began.
In addition to a new president, voters will elect a new parliament and hundreds of local representatives.
Main candidates
Polls show it is a close race, with three of the five presidential candidates on the ballot likely to win. they are:
1. Rixi Moncada, who served as Minister of Finance and later Secretary of Defense in the current government of President Xiomara Castro, is running for the Social Democratic Party LIBRE or Freedom and Reestablishment Party.
2. Salvador Nasrallah is running for president for the fourth time, this time as a candidate for the Conservative and Liberal Party.
3. Former Tegucigalpa Mayor Nasry “Tito” Asfulura, also the standard-bearer of the conservative National Party.
Moncada promises to “democratize” an economy still defined by extreme wealth and poverty. Nasrallah presents himself as an outsider who can root out the corruption that is endemic to the country. And Asfra is trying to revive the People’s Party, which has been damaged by past presidential corruption scandals, as a pro-business force.
Honduras’ security situation has improved in recent years as homicides continue to decline across the region, but it still has the highest homicide rate in Central America. Hondurans say security and jobs remain their top priorities, even though the economy has strengthened under Castro.
The presidential race had largely focused on candidates accusing each other of vote-rigging schemes until last week, when President Donald Trump backed Mr. Asfura while attacking his opponent, the latest sign of renewed U.S. interest in Latin America.
President Trump then shocked Hondurans by announcing on Friday that he would pardon former President Juan Orlando Hernández, who is serving a 45-year sentence in a U.S. prison for helping drug traffickers transport cocaine into the United States.
It is unclear what impact Mr. Trump will have on the election, but it is the latest move by Washington to signal its willingness to engage directly in the region, and comes amid already heightened tensions over the buildup of American troops in the Caribbean and Mr. Trump’s threats against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Hondurans were shaken by the sudden attention from the United States and hoped that at least a peaceful election would be held.
Ruben Dario Molina, a 55-year-old security guard who was walking outside a polling station in the capital, said he would not vote on Sunday because he has work to do. However, he chose his words against President Trump, who had lived in the United States for 20 years and was deported to his home country of Honduras a month ago by the Trump administration.
He was working in the landscaping business in Miami when he was picked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the street one day and separated from his U.S. citizen wife and son.
“I don’t believe in politicians,” he said. “Politicians are trash. They use them like a ladder (to get promoted).”
Cristian Zelaya, a 42-year-old systems engineer, said his priority at the polling station was “trying to save this country from a future like Venezuela.” He said he wanted to get rid of the “communists”, referring to the ruling Social Democratic Libre party, which he said had made big promises but failed to deliver.
He praised Trump’s decision to pardon Hernández, whom he considered a good president, but said it did not influence his decision.
In another part of the capital, Carlos Alberto Figueroa, a 71-year-old retiree, said he wanted Mr. Moncada to continue Castro’s work, saying his work had already led to “improved development, economy and security.”
But he also downplayed President Trump’s influence, saying the Honduran people would decide.
Nancy Serrano, 20, was voting for the first time, and her main concern was that “enough is enough of corruption.”
Serrano is studying to become a teacher, but she worries that widespread corruption is limiting opportunities for young people and hurting the economy.
In announcing the opening of voting on Sunday, National Electoral Council President Ana Paola Hall called on candidates to abide by the rule of not declaring victory before the council has confirmed the winner.
Voting is scheduled to close at 5pm local time on Sunday. The council was scheduled to announce preliminary results at 9 p.m., but it could take up to 30 days to officially announce final results.
More than 4,000 election observers from Honduras and abroad gathered at about 6,000 polling stations across the country.
