 |
CENTRAL AMERICA |
| |
Relative
Calm The Day Before Elections
in Honduras
By Alejandra del Palacio
TEGUCIGALPA - A few hours
before the general elections begin on Sunday
in Honduras, people in Tegucigalpa, capital
of the country, continued with their daily
life in relative calm.
On the streets, some slogans urge voters to
vote while other slogans call on them not to
vote in an apparent show of the division
that has plagued the nation since a coup
ousted President Manuel Zelaya five months
ago.
Police and soldiers can be seen at a few
places, including the Central Park of
Tegucigalpa, the Electoral Supreme Tribunal
and the Brazilian embassy, where Zelaya is
currently staying.
Nevertheless, for many Hondurans it was
business as usual on Saturday. Restaurants
and stores remained open and residents were
taking a walk in parks and visiting shopping
centers -- or just spending some time there
enjoying the Christmas decorations on the
streets and in shopping centers.
About 4.6 million Hondurans have been
registered for the elections to choose the
country's president, three vice presidents,
128 deputies to the National Congress, 20
members of the Central American parliament
and 298 mayors among more than 13,000
candidates.
The country is divided in three groups --
those who see the elections as a solution to
the political crisis and will go to vote,
those who support ousted President Manuel
Zelaya and consider these elections as
illegitimate, and those who will not vote
because they think the elections will not
fix the problems.
A middle-aged man taking a walk in a park in
a working-class district of Tegucigalpa, who
only identified himself by Erik, told Xinhua
he would not vote on Sunday because "if I
do, it will be like supporting the coup."
Erik admitted that the elections are not the
solution. "I have other things to worry
about, like earning money to support my
family."
He said he was "more worried about the
economic crisis than the coup because we are
a country that lives on remittances, which,
with the economic crisis, have been
reduced."
A peasant in the Central Park of
Tegucigalpa, who would not give his name,
said: "What Honduras needs is a change... We
need to change, we have to fight poverty."
During the past several days, there have
been some minor blasts of small homemade
explosive devices, which caused no
casualties but have fueled speculation of
possible attacks on election day.
Police forayed into a clandestine
explosives-producing site near the capital
city early Saturday morning. They dismantled
a small lab in a two-storey house in the
Tiloraque district, southwest of
Tegucigalpa.
Polling stations will open 7:00 a.m. and
first results will be ready two hours after
polls close at 4:00 p.m.
As Hondurans prepared to vote, differences
remain over the legitimacy of the elections
in the international community.
Both Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva and Argentine President Cristina
Kirchner have demanded the restitution of
President Zelaya as a way to reestablish
constitutional order and democracy in the
country.
But Canada, the United States, Panama, Costa
Rica, Colombia and Peru have said they will
recognize the outcome of the elections as
long as they prove to be transparent.
|
|
|
 |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
