It is official, Honduras has its first female president, Xiomara Castro. She has won with a majority number, leaving her opposition Nasry Asfura, mayor of the capital Tegucigalpa, with 33.98%. At 42% of the vote, Xiomara Castro reached 53.48% of the votes, almost 20 points above the official.
In third place, very far apart, was the liberal Yani Rosenthal, with 9.10% of the supporters. A momentous electoral result, since in the ten previous elections they have been divided between the two traditional parties, the ruling National Party (PN) and the Liberal Party, with five legislatures each. The bipartisanship seems mortally wounded in Honduras.
“The people have done justice, we reverted authoritarianism and continuity. We are going to form a government of national reconciliation, peace, and justice. We are going to build a new era,” cried the wife of former president Mel Zelaya before her followers, determined to reach out to the different sectors of the country, including the defeated ruling party.
Castro invoked a national dialogue from tomorrow (Monday) in search of “responding to so much need.” The electoral winner also drew the applause from those closest to them with references to participatory and direct democracy, common terms in the revolutions that supported her husband in his 12-year journey in the desert after the 2009 coup d’état. “The people will be the eternal leader, I will call for a permanent dialogue with the people, “he said. President Xiomara has been little spoken about the future of Honduras, investment plans, infrastructure, etc. She has been very outspoken about removing from the country the private electric company EEH (Energia Electrica de Honduras ) with roots in Colombia. EEH was a company introduced by the existing president Juan Orlando Hernandez.
The flag of the Opposition Alliance thus not only becomes the first woman to preside over Honduras in its history but also the only one currently in charge of a country in all of Latin America. The coalition he leads has benefited from historical participation, above three million voters, almost 69%.
The desire for change and the powerful vote of punishment against the administration of right-wing Juan Orlando Hernández, tainted by corruption and drug trafficking. In the end, the boredom with the multiple complaints against the current government, added to its ineffectiveness in the fight against poverty, has been more powerful than the wounds opened 12 years ago.
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“We won!”, Former president Mel Zelaya, Castro’s husband and founder of the Partido Libertad y Refundación (Free), sang victory, shortly after the polling stations closed, to make it clear that he is still the strong man of the Honduran left.
Libre heads the Opposition Alliance coalition together with Salvador Nasralla’s Salvador Party (PSH) (the loser four years ago between allegations of fraud and after Hernández forced the Constitution to run for a second term), the center-left Innovation and Unity Party (PINU ), and a group of liberal leaders.
The same Resistance team is formed around the presidential couple after the coup d’état, when Zelaya, who was elected in 2005 as a candidate of the Liberal Party, was taken out of bed by the military and sent to Costa Rica, after wanting to force a Constituent Assembly in the shadow of Chavismo. It is precisely Nicolás Maduro, then chancellor, another of the indirect winners of these elections, by leading a historic vendetta after the 12 years of his friend and ally’s journey in the desert.
“12 years after the coup against Brother Manuel Zelaya, the people of Morazán resume the path of hope, granting a historic victory to the president-elect, Xiomara Castro. The great homeland celebrates the triumph of democracy and peace in Honduras “Maduro celebrated as soon as he knew the results
A party broke out at Libre’s headquarters even before the results were confirmed. Thousands of Hondurans took to the streets to celebrate the fall of a National Party, which refused to admit defeat. The cries of “Yes, it was possible!” were mixed with those of “Xiomara, Xiomara!”, including the usual outbursts of fireworks.
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