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Honduran President Named Winner in `Low Quality' Election

Honduran President Named Winner in `Low Quality' Election

(Bloomberg) -- Honduran electoral authorities declared incumbent Juan Orlando Hernandez the winner of the Nov. 26 presidential vote after three weeks in which the nation slid into chaos as ballots were counted and recounted. Monitors from Organization of American states proposed new elections saying the vote was “low quality” and that they couldn’t confirm the result.

Hernandez took 43 percent of the vote with the opposition’s Salvador Nasralla garnering 41.4 percent, the national electoral court known as the TSE said on its official Twitter account. Nasralla is alleging fraud and said he won’t recognize the result.

Honduran President Named Winner in `Low Quality' Election

“The TSE accompanied by the Honduran people opened all of the ballots in the presence of national and international observers, a transparency which has never been seen before,” David Matamoros, the head of the court said.

At a press conference, the OAS mission said the election didn’t have “the robust security measures necessary to guarantee its integrity.”

Hernandez, a pro-U.S. leader who presided over one of the world’s largest bond rallies during the past four years, was accused of manipulating the results after the vote count slowed to a crawl following initial figures that showed him trailing Nasralla. The disputed result threw the Central American nation of 9 million people into a full-blown constitutional crisis which has also seen Amnesty International say that security forces used excessive force to repel protests.

Burning Tires

Marchers have blocked highways and burnt tires in recent weeks, and the government declared curfews. Stores were looted in the capital, and police have fired on crowds. Finance Minister Wilfredo Cerrato said the post-election chaos could slightly hurt economic growth this year.

Honduran President Named Winner in `Low Quality' Election

The exporter of coffee and apparel has become a bond investor favorite after it signed an IMF package, slashed its deficit and halved one of the world’s highest homicide rates. The S&P warned this month that the country faces a credit ratings downgrade should the electoral situation undermine economic policies.

Hernandez, a 49-year-old conservative former congressman, has been popular with foreign investors after slashing the fiscal deficit under a three-year IMF program that ends this month.

Hernandez has kept close ties with the U.S., extraditing alleged drug lords and business elites accused of money laundering. His narrow, come-from-behind victory may mean he’ll start his second term amid concerns over his legitimacy.

“We are perhaps more worried about what might be the long-term consequences of the current turmoil, especially in terms of how drug-trafficking groups may expand activities in a period of political crisis,” said International Crisis Group analyst Sofia Martinez, speaking before the results were announced.

Honduras is a main transit point for South American drugs en route to the U.S. The country saw a spike in murders following a 2009 coup that led to the ousting of Manuel Zelaya as he sought to allow for a second presidential term.

To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Cancel in Sao Paulo at dcancel@bloomberg.net, Michael McDonald in Guatemala City at mmcdonald87@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vivianne Rodrigues at vrodrigues3@bloomberg.net, Matthew Bristow

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