Honduran’s first female president promises “democratic socialism”

Honduran opposition leader Xiomara Castro declared victory in Sunday’s presidential election, with initial results pointing to a landslide victory that would put the left back in power for the first time since her husband was ousted in a military coup. Been for 12 years.

The election, which gives the Honduras, its first female president, appeared to have gone smoothly, in contrast to four years ago when a tight outcome led to disputed outcome and fatal protests over widespread allegations of wrongdoing.

“Xiomara’s victory represents the return of populism, and now a populism that has a left-wing nuance. It represents, perhaps, a rapprochement with Venezuela, although it promises to bring, to create, a UN entity inside Honduras to investigate corruption”, explains the International analyst at CNN Brasil, Lourival Sant’Anna.

With half of the votes counted, Castro, wife of former president Manuel Zelaya, is nearly 20 points ahead of Nasry Asfura, the capital’s mayor and National Party candidate — she won 53% support, against his 34% for according to a preliminary count.

Celebrations took place at the Xiomara campaign headquarters as the vote count progressed and its lead maintained. The headquarters of the conservative National Party in Asfura was empty.

A self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist in a country where women hold few public positions, Xiomara has won the support of a broad swath of Hondurans tired of the corruption and concentration of power that have grown under the stewardship of the National Party.

This year’s election took place against a backdrop of corruption scandals and social unrest in the Central American country fueled by a struggling economy and gang violence that have seen record numbers of migrants flee their homeland.

“We are going to form a government of reconciliation, a government of peace and justice,” said Castro.

She has also pledged to strengthen direct democracy through holding referendums — a tool that has been repeatedly employed by Mexico’s leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Critics portrayed her as a dangerous left-wing radical, but business leaders quickly gave their congratulations.

“The private sector is committed to doing whatever it takes to make its administration an example of transformation,” wrote Eduardo Facusse, head of the country’s chamber of commerce, in a Twitter post on Sunday night.

Castro, who had twice run for president, took advantage of the unpopularity of outgoing President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who changed the constitution to allow his disputed re-election in 2017 and was later implicated in a drug trafficking case in a US federal court.

Hernandez has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, but his party’s candidate, Asfura, insisted on keeping his distance from the president during the election campaign.

Asfura urged voters to show patience in a social media post on Sunday night, but failed to concede victory.

The fate of the 128-member Honduran Congress also remained open, with no preliminary results published by the electoral council. If the National Party manages to maintain control, it could complicate life for the Castro government.

* With information from Reuters

Reference: CNN Brasil

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