TEGUCIGALPA, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Hondurans vote on Sunday in the country's general elections amid a tense political crisis following a military-backed coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya and sent him into exile in Costa Rica on June 28.
Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya reads the document "Dialogue Guaymuras. Tegucigalpa-San JosAccords" during an interview with a local radio station, inside the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa October 31, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters File Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
About 4.6 million Hondurans registered to vote on Sunday 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 government has and deployed 5,000 troops across the nation and barred the wearing of guns to guarantee security.
The winner of the presidential election is scheduled to take office on Jan. 27, 2010 for a four-year term.
Among the five presidential candidates, only two were believed to stand greater chance to win the presidency: Porfirio Lobo of the National Party and Elvin Santos of the Liberal Party.
Porfirio Lobo Sosa, the candidate from the right-wing National Party takes an interview in Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras, Nov. 27, 2009. (Xinhua/David de la Paz) Photo Gallery>>>
These two parties have been the strongest political parties in Honduras and have been alternating power since the end of the 19th Century.
The Sunday elections were rejected by many countries. 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.
By contrast, the United States, Panama, and Peru said they would recognize the outcome of the elections as they are under way.
About 350 independent international observers would monitor the election, but only 90 had arrived, according to the electoral authorities.
The electoral authorities have established 5,248 voting centers across the country, which will be guarded by two soldiers each.
Elvin Santos, presidential candidate of Honduras' Liberal Party, addresses the media in Tegucigalpa Nov. 28, 2009. (Xinhua/Rafael Ochoa) Photo Gallery>>>
Nevertheless, supporters of Zelaya, including unionists, students and farm workers, launched a boycott of the elections in the Central American nation.
On Saturday, de facto leader Roberto Micheletti told local radio HRN that the Sunday elections "will be the ones most observed," despite the fact that many from the international community will not recognize the outcomes.
He added that the armed forces and the police were ready to prevent any attack against the elections and urged the people to immediately report if they observe anything out of normal or irregular.
Nicaragua and El Salvador closed on Saturday their customs posts on the Honduras border and will open them again on Monday to avoid any possible incidents linked to Honduras' Sunday elections.
Zelaya was forced out of his country in the coup against him, which was condemned by the international community, and he has been staying in the Brazilian embassy in Honduran capital Tegucigalpa since late September.
He called on his followers to "impugn and denounce" the Nov. 29 elections while appealing to the international community not to recognize the outcome.
Honduras' de facto leader Roberto Micheletti greets a journalist during a mass in Tegucigalpa November 23, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters File Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
TEGUCIGALPA, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- 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. Full story
TEGUCIGALPA, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) - Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya regretted on Saturday the call of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias to the international community to recognize the general elections of Nov. 29 in Honduras.
During a phone interview, Zelaya told local radio station Radio Globo that Arias does not know the suffering of the Honduran people, who are summoned to vote on Sunday. Full story
TEGUCIGALPA, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Honduras' de facto leader Roberto Micheletti on Saturday urged supporters of ousted president Manuel Zelaya not to carry out bombing attacks to disrupt the general elections and called on the public to stay calm.
"I beg you on my knees if it is necessary: do not set bombs to kill people," Micheletti said during an interview with local radio station HRN. "This country deserves peace, tranquility and it wants to live in democracy." Full story
TEGUCIGALPA, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- De facto Honduran leader Roberto Micheletti said on Saturday that the elections of Sunday "will be the ones most observed," despite that most of the international community will not recognize the outcomes.
Micheletti, told local radio station HRN that he thinks that among the 4.6 million Hondurans registered to vote, some 2.5 million will be expected to cast their ballots at voting centers. Full story
TEGUCIGALPA, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The presidential candidate of Honduras' Liberal Party, Elvin Santos, said Saturday that if he wins Sunday's elections he will withdraw Honduras from the Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas (ALBA).
He told a press conference in Tegucigalpa that Honduras "has not evaluated yet the benefits that ALBA has brought. However, we know it has brought us problems." Full story
Elvin Santos, presidential candidate for the right-wing Liberal Party takes an interview in Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras, Nov. 27, 2009. The general election of Honduras is to be held on Nov. 29, 2009. On Sunday, about 4.6 million Hondurans are to choose president, three vice presidents, 128 deputies to the National Congress and 298 mayors in the elections. (Xinhua/David de la Paz) Photo Gallery>>>
TEGUCIGALPA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The two main presidential candidates in Honduras on Friday denied any connection between the general elections to be held on Nov. 29 and the country's political crisis, ignited by the military coup against ousted President Manuel Zelaya five months ago.
Elvin Santos, presidential candidate for the right-wing Liberal Party, told reporters that the elections were a constitutional mandate issued every four years for the Honduran people to choose their president and deputies to the National Congress. Full story
TEGUCIGALPA, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Nicaragua and El Salvador closed on Saturday their customs posts on the Honduras border and will open them again on Monday to avoid any possible incidents linked to Honduras' Sunday elections, Honduras police officers said.
Nicaragua sealed its El Espino, Guasaule and Las Manos border posts beginning at 6 a.m. local time (1200 GMT), police spokesman Orlin Cerrato told media. El Salvador will do the same thing at noon local time (1800 GMT), he added. Full story
