BFF-16 Honduras opposition bid to annul president’s re-election rejected

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

TEGUCIGALPA, Jan 6, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – 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.”

BSS/AFP/MR/ 1050 hrs