On November 30, more than six million Hondurans will go to the polls to elect their next president. They will also elect 128 deputies to the Honduran Congress, 20 deputies to the Central American Parliament, 298 mayors, and more than 2,000 councilors.

Most of the attention is focused on the presidential election, which will be decided in a single round. There appear to be three frontrunners for the presidency: Rixi Moncada, Salvador Nasralla, and Nasry Asfura.

Moncada, the candidate for the progressive and ruling LIBRE (Libertad y Refundación) Party, served as a minister in Xiomara Castro’s government and has vowed to continue pursuing public policies focused on the most disadvantaged and maintain Honduras’ role in spaces of Latin American integration, as opposed to wholly subservient to corporate or US interests.

The other two candidates belong to the opposition to Castro’s progressive government and have attempted to appeal to anti-leftist voters in order to defeat the LIBRE ticket. Salvador Nasralla is a former television presenter and, in the disputed 2017 elections, he was the presidential candidate for an electoral alliance led by LIBRE. Now Nasralla is seeking the presidency through the Liberal Party (PLH). The other is a businessman and former mayor of the Central District, Nasry Asfura, who is running for the far-right National Party (PNH), which seized control of Honduras following the 2009 US-backed coup against Manuel Zelaya.

The LIBRE Party for its part, emerged from the anti-coup struggle in the country, in an attempt to break the two-party political logic in Honduras and appeal for more progressive and leftist politics than the PLH, which has opted for an openly right-wing discourse.

“The battle on Sunday, November 30, is between two models: the oligarchic model and the democratic socialist model,” said current President Castro, who highlighted her government’s progress in reducing poverty, promoting equality, and encouraging citizen participation, and asked Hondurans to support this model. On the other hand, the opposition, in a completely catastrophic tone, claims that the election could be the last chance to “save Honduras from socialism.”

November 23 marked the end of the candidates’ campaigns. Some pollsters give Moncada a five-point lead, while others suggest that Nasralla could be in a technical tie with the LIBRE Party candidate.

International pressure on Honduras

In recent weeks, the United States, the Organization of American States (OAS), and the European Union have expressed concern about possible irregularities that could occur during the November 30 election.

For weeks, media outlets and personalities associated with the Honduran right wing have been using a familiar script, raising the alarm that electoral fraud is being prepared in favor of progressive Moncada. These voices have been joined by several right-wing Latin American politicians, such as Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who called for the defense of votes during and after the election. Corina Machado said in a video, “Your presence is a powerful and legitimate civic way to defend democracy. At times like this, the collective strength of those who believe in freedom and in the future of their families is invincible.”

Honduran President Xiomara Castro and LIBRE candidate Rixi Moncada have stated that the Honduran and international right wing is maneuvering to delegitimize the upcoming elections, in which their party has a significant chance of winning. According to LIBRE’s top leaders, what they are seeking is to promote international disregard for the elections.

Read More: Presidential campaigns officially kick off in Honduras

A few days ago, US Republican María Elvira Salazar received a delegation of Honduran politicians. On her Twitter account, Salazar, in a deeply interventionist tone, referred to Honduras as a country “in her neighborhood”, which drew much criticism: “In 10 days, Honduras will choose between democracy and tyranny. The socialists are trying to steal the election from the people. Join me in hearing why the United States must ensure that democracy prevails during a crucial hearing … We are not going to lose another country in our own neighborhood to socialism.”

Indeed, Nasralla and other opposition figures traveled to the United States to present and promote the idea that a plan to commit electoral fraud is being hatched in Honduras. At the hearing, Congressman Joaquín Castro told Salazar that it is not within the power of the United States to decide who will be the leaders of Honduras, as that right belongs solely to the Honduran people: “People have the right to choose their own leaders, regardless of whether the government is right-wing or left-wing. Our role is not to choose the leaders of Honduras.” In response, candidate Moncada said: “They failed in Washington in their attempt to lie.”

However, LIBRE has been warned that if Moncada wins, the word “fraud” will be heard a lot in the media and on the streets of Honduras, even before the accusers present any alleged evidence. Hence, according to María Corina Machado, the opposition is expected to stage demonstrations if the result is unfavorable. This could bring profound instability to Honduras, which in 2009 experienced a coup d’état due to then-President Manuel Zelaya’s attempt to install a constituent assembly.

The post With elections just days away, external pressure on Honduras is mounting appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.

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