Honduran President Declared Winner, but O.A.S. Calls for New Election (original) (raw)

Americas|Honduran President Declared Winner, but O.A.S. Calls for New Election

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/17/world/americas/honduran-presidential-election.html

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President Juan Orlando Hernández of Honduras addressed his supporters in Tegucigalpa this month.Credit...Moises Castillo/Associated Press

Dec. 17, 2017

MEXICO CITY — The Honduran electoral commission on Sunday declared President Juan Orlando Hernández the victor in a bitterly contested race, but the Organization of American States called for a new election, arguing that the vote was so riddled with irregularities that it was impossible to be sure of a winner.

The electoral commission, which is controlled by allies of Mr. Hernández, said he had won by about 50,000 votes over the opposition candidate, Salvador Nasralla.

The announcement, and the response from Luis Almagro, the secretary general of the O.A.S., seemed likely to escalate the political crisis that has gripped Honduras since the Nov. 26 vote.

David Matamoros, the electoral commission president and a member of the Honduran president’s National Party, declared a winner despite an earlier call from Mr. Almagro to hold back.

In a statement issued late Sunday, Mr. Almagro said, “Facing the impossibility of determining a winner, the only way possible so that the people of Honduras are the victors is a new call for general elections.” The O.A.S. election observer team had just presented a report that concluded the election process was of “poor quality.”

The electoral commission’s declaration came as Mr. Nasralla was on his way to Washington to meet with Mr. Almagro and the State Department.

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