© Reuters. Xiomara Castro, presidential candidate of the Liberty and Refoundation Occasion (LIBRE), offers an announcement after the closing of the final election in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, November 28, 2021. At left is vice presidential candidate Salvador Nasrala. REUTERS
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By Gustavo Palencia and David Alire Garcia
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) -Honduran presidential candidate Xiomara Castro was headed for a landslide win as presidential election outcomes rolled in on Monday, and regarded set to place the left again in energy 12 years after her husband was ousted in a coup.
Castro https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/sundays-election-xiomara-castro-could-end-two-party-rule-honduras-2021-11-25, who can be the Central American nation’s first feminine president, has promised massive adjustments in Honduras together with a constitutional overhaul, United Nations assist within the battle towards corruption, and looser abortion restrictions.
She has additionally floated the thought of dropping diplomatic assist for Taiwan in favor of China, a coverage proposal keenly watched in Washington, Beijing and Taipei.
With simply over half the ballots counted, Castro, the spouse of former President Manuel Zelaya, held an almost 20-point lead over conservative Nasry Asfura, the capital’s mayor and candidate for the ruling Nationwide Occasion, who received 34% in keeping with a preliminary tally.
Jubilant celebrations broke out at Castro’s marketing campaign headquarters because the vote depend progressed and her lead held up, with supporters chanting “JOH out” in reference to two-term President Juan Orlando Hernandez of the Nationwide Occasion.
Hernandez is deeply unpopular and has been implicated in a drug trafficking case in a U.S. federal courtroom. He denies wrongdoing, however might face an indictment when he leaves workplace.
“We now have turned again authoritarianism,” Castro informed supporters late on Sunday, surrounded by her Libre Occasion trustworthy, aides and household, together with her husband Zelaya, who was ousted when enterprise and navy elites allied towards him, ushering in a dozen years of Nationwide Occasion rule.
Zelaya was additionally implicated by a witness in a U.S. courtroom of getting taken a drug bribe. He denied the accusation.
A self-proclaimed democratic socialist in a rustic the place the left has hardly ever been fashionable and few ladies maintain public workplace, Castro has received assist of Hondurans bored with corruption and the focus of energy that after the Nationwide Occasion received workplace within the wake of Zelaya’s 2009 ouster.
Outcomes for the election initially rolled in rapidly, a distinction to 4 years in the past when a detailed end result led to a contested outcome and lethal protests after widespread allegations of dishonest.
The Nationwide Occasion marketing campaign workplaces have been abandoned in a single day.
“PEACE AND JUSTICE”
If she delivers on marketing campaign pledges, Castro might start to reverse a weakening of the Honduran justice system that has benefited corrupt and felony teams, a pattern seen throughout Central America in recent times.
Her manifesto states that she’s going to enlist assist from the United Nations to construct an company to sort out impunity, whereas additionally creating extra independence for prosecutors.
Enterprise leaders rapidly supplied congratulations and Castro promised to work “hand in hand” with the non-public sector.
“We will type a authorities of reconciliation, a authorities of peace and justice,” Castro added.
Nonetheless, critics have painted her as a harmful radical, recalling Zelaya’s closeness to late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
In her speech, Castro vowed to strengthen direct democracy by holding referendums on key insurance policies. Elsewhere in Latin America, that device has generally actually strengthened presidential energy.
A deliberate referendum by Zelaya on constitutional reform together with permitting a president to be re-elected for a second time period was a catalyst for the coup towards him, with elites uncomfortable about his alliance with Chavez.
Regardless of such resistance to re-election, a prime courtroom full of present President Juan Orlando Hernandez’s allies later modified the structure to permit him a second time period.
Early on Monday, Castro thanked Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Twitter (NYSE:) for a message congratulating her.
The election passed off towards a backdrop of poverty exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, including to anger fueled by scandals that helped pushed document numbers of migrants to go away for america.
Castro, who sought the presidency twice earlier together with a brief 2017 run earlier than she stood right down to again one other candidate, seized on the unpopularity of outgoing Hernandez.
The Nationwide Occasion’s candidate Asfura was at pains to maintain his distance from the president throughout the election marketing campaign.
Asfura urged voters to point out endurance in a social media submit, however stopped in need of conceding.
The destiny of Honduras’ 128-member Congress remained within the air with no outcomes revealed. If the Nationwide Occasion retains management, it might complicate life for a Castro administration.