After Special Vote Count, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández Garners Most Votes

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, Dec. 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the Honduran Supreme Electoral Tribunal's final count of the ballots in the country's November 26 presidential election, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández garnered more votes than any other candidate. The Tribunal will announce an official winner following an "objection period," required by Honduran law, during which political parties will be allowed to challenge the results.

The Honduran Government is welcoming recommendations from international electoral observers from the Organization of the American States and the European Union.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal's final results, published Monday, show that President Hernández, the National Party's candidate, garnered 42.98% of the vote. His closest opponent, Libre Alliance candidate Salvador Nasralla, received 41.38%.

In the Honduran National Congress, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal's results show that National Party candidates won 61 of 128 total seats, or 47.66% of the vote. The Libre Alliance and the Liberal Party garnered 23.44% and 20.31% of the vote, respectively.

"Today we have seen extraordinary things, members of civil society mobilized immediately in answer to our call, today we as a country have won," said David Matamoros, President of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, or TSE, on Monday. "Now all that remains is the objection period, but we are proud of this process."

TSE officials announced the presidential race results after they finished conducting a special count of 1,006 ballot boxes by hand around 5 a.m. Monday morning. This manual count of ballots that showed "inconsistencies" took place before observers from the Organization of American States and the European Union, as well as the media. Representatives from the National Party and the Libre Alliance were not present.

Matamoros thanked the domestic and international observers who oversaw the ballot counting.

In an official statement, the U.S. embassy in Honduras said, "We are pleased Honduran election authorities completed the special scrutiny process in a way that maximizes citizen participation and transparency. This is an important step in achieving a final election result."

Both President Hernández and Mr. Nasralla signed agreements with the Organization of American States promising to recognize the TSE's official results. Shortly after signing, however, Nasralla backed out of the agreement.

"We regret that @SalvadorAlianza has withdrawn from the Declaration for the sake of Democracy, a commitment to the people, facilitated by #OAS in good faith, for all the votes to be counted transparently and impartially, in a calm atmosphere," the OAS tweeted.

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SOURCE Republic of Honduras