Tegucigalpa, Honduras – Manuel Zelaya, an opposition candidate who promised to battle government corruption and push for life sentences for violent criminals, was declared Honduras’ president-elect Monday.
His opponent, however, refused to concede, with a party spokesman saying the votes had not yet been counted in full.
Supreme Electoral Tribunal President Aristides Mejia declared Zelaya the winner of Sunday’s race, but officials said final results would not be available until later Monday at the earliest.
The tribunal said Sunday night that Zelaya had 50.8 percent of the vote to 45.2 percent for Porfirio Lobo Sosa of the governing National Party.
However, National Party president Gilberto Goldstein said Monday that his party would not accept the election results “until every one of the votes of every citizen is counted.” He accused Mejia of making declarations based on early results and insisted National Party candidate Porfirio Lobo Sosa was ahead.
“In no case should the electoral tribunal president have presented this as if it represented true election results,” Goldstein said.
Mejia said Monday that he was confident in the projections and the final results of the race. He urged Lobo Sosa to concede defeat.
Lobo Sosa “should admit that there is a winner … and that winner is President-elect Manuel Zelaya,” Mejia told Channel 5. “It is necessary that the nation knows this situation.”
Lobo Sosa did not make any immediate public comments. A woman answering the telephone at his campaign offices said no one was available to provide information. Lobo Sosa’s campaign manager, Pompeyo Bonilla, did not answer his cellphone.
Late Sunday, Lobo Sosa said his campaign had different results that did not show Zelaya as the clear winner.
“It is a close race,” he said. “The only valid result is the final result.”
Zelaya’s supporters flooded the streets of the capital to celebrate what they called a certain victory.
Zelaya said Monday that he already was forming work committees, preparing official visits to other countries and setting up meetings with business groups and social organizations.
“The decision the people made requires that we get to work now for Honduras, leave behind the campaign and start meeting with the people,” he said at a news conference in his home.
