Editor's Comment: At Axis of Logic, we have been searching for actual counts of the results of last Sunday's election results in Honduras, state by state; however the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) continues to withhold the results 3 days after the election. We've particularly been interested in finding out the percent of voters who abstained from voting. Abstentia was called for by the deposed president of Honduras, Mel Zelaya. It's much easier for the coup regime in Tegucigalpa to manipulate and publish gross figures (percentage of the vote cast for the "candidates") than it would be for them to publish the actual count of votes in each pueblo, city (by barrio) and state. However, we received via "Presente-Honduras", a list serve, a sampling of ballot boxes from Former Minister of Culture of the exiled government, Rodolfo Pastor who is currently at Harvard University. That sample shows that very high percentages of voters abstained in various states, refusing to participate in the fraudulent election. Those results are provided at the bottom of this page and results like these appear to be precisely what the de facto regime is withholding.

The rigging of the voting record by the coup regime now taking place is consistent with their manipulations for international recognition of the regime and the coup itself. The U.S.-backed criminals in the Honduran congress, military and courts who kidnapped President Zelaya and overthrew his democratically-elected government are using the same methods of delays, smoke and mirrors, no doubt orchestrated by the CIA. The masters of anti-democratic imperialism have learned from their failed coup in Venezuela in 2002. Truth to tell, the people may never know the actual numbers of votes cast and the number of abstentions in Sunday's elections. But the people and the world know that Honduras now has a government run by thieves and liars, not unlike the one in Washington. Belén Fernández' article below shines some light into the dark corners of the real "electoral process" in Honduras.

- Les Blough, Editor

 

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Photo: Honduras Indymedia

(emphases added)

On the evening of November 29, the Honduran Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) announced that a technical error had impeded the “second verification of data” in the tallying of the day’s election results. The error had occurred despite repeated TSE claims that the efficiency of its tallying process would enable Honduras and the world to become acquainted with the country’s next president within hours of the closing of the polls; not explained was the reason for urgency, as Honduras and the world already had two Honduran presidents to keep track of—one elected (Mel Zelaya) and the other the product of the June 28 coup (Roberto Micheletti).

In a televised presentation at the Marriott Hotel in Tegucigalpa, TSE President Saúl Escobar declared that, instead of concealing the day’s technical error, the institution had “made the decision to [reveal] exactly what had happened.” Whether this triumph in TSE transparency was intended to serve as compensation for the lack of transparent election results was not clear, nor was why transparency did not extend to a revelation of what exactly the “second verification of data” consisted of or why it was not possible.

Other attempts to pass off failure as victory in the Honduran context included coup regime glorification of elections as the remedy to all political, social, and economic ills. During the Marriott presentation, TSE magistrate Enrique Ortez impassionedly decreed that the elections had been won by the “Honduran people” and that November 29 would be a date “recorded in gold letters.”

As for inferior records, TSE vote tallies for the presidential race were for the moment replaced with results offered by the TSE-approved association Hagamos Democracia, which assigned 55.77 percent of the vote to National Party candidate Porfirio (Pepe) Lobo and 38.58 percent to Liberal Party candidate Elvin Santos. Additional technical failures on the part of the TSE were observed on its website, which I visited the morning following the elections only to find that the link to “VOTE COUNTING AND THE TRANSMISSION OF PRELIMINARY RESULTS” did not exist.

Of the links that did exist, the one entitled “Virtual Observer: Watch the elections online” consisted of three live video options featuring different electoral scenes such as a desk with a scanner. The Virtual Observer had been advertised by the TSE as a way for the international community to witness Honduran democracy; as for non-virtual election observers, these included Israeli Ambassador to Guatemala and non-resident Ambassador to Honduras Eliyahu López and organizations such as the International Republican Institute, which in addition to supporting the 2002 coup against Hugo Chávez happens to have also cooperated in election-related projects in Venezuela and Nicaragua with Hagamos Democracia.

When I initially clicked on the Virtual Observer link I found not only the three videos but also election results for the five presidential candidates, although the figures listed for the total number of votes counted and the overall percentage of voter participation were both 0. A subsequent visit to the site revealed that the tallies had been removed and that only the videos remained; other technical inconsistencies included the TSE’s announcement that voter participation had been over 61 percent despite Hagamos Democracia’s calculation of 47.6.

The Virtual Observer section did not include an option to watch oral cellular phone transmission of electoral data, which was the process that had been hyped by the TSE and the Honduran media as enabling rapid determination of the next president and that was based on the distribution of 20,000 specially-purchased phones to electoral tables around the country. Rapidity was less of a priority among other organs of the Honduran state such as the National Congress, which had postponed consideration of Zelaya’s restitution until December and thus underscored the illegitimacy of the elections; as for the effectiveness of cellular transmissions of critical data, this was called into question by the frequency with which Honduran cell phone communications were reduced to such phrases as: “Can you hear me?”

The system lost further credibility yesterday at one of the electoral tables at the Tegucigalpa polling station of Iglesia Vida Abundante, where the woman in charge of reporting the results to the main TSE computing center proved less than certain as to reporting protocol but agreed that numbers involving multiple digits would probably be reported one digit at a time. She additionally assured me that whatever she reported would be recorded and shrugged at the possibility of a lack of cell phone reception at the time of recording; other technical obstacles were identified at a voting station in the lower-class neighborhood of El Pedregal, where the cell phones at several electoral tables were not functioning.

TSE President Escobar’s declaration that there was “absolutely nothing to doubt about these elections” was aided by Honduran media traditions of obsequiousness, manifestations of which included radio commentators vying to provide the most euphoric fabrication of Honduran hordes descending upon voting centers and the daily El Heraldo’s “minute by minute” election updates such as: “9.41 p.m.: Day of glory. Honduras is one big carnival.” Not explained was whether Honduran carnivals always entailed military and police repression of peaceful election day protests in San Pedro Sula.

A citizen at one of the voting centers claimed that past elections had been more celebratory in nature and cited the current absence of vehicular caravans—an absence that persisted until the following day when the Resistance proved its adeptness at organizing large numbers of like-minded automobiles. As for TSE magistrate Ortez’ proclamation that the countries of the world had the moral obligation to recognize the Honduran electoral process, it would seem that moral obligations might also be assigned to electoral magistrates claiming to speak for 7 million Hondurans.

Upside Down World

Editor's Note:We received the following data, via a list serve, "Presente-Honduras". It is a sampling of ballot boxes by departments, towns, cities and barrios from former Minister of Culture of the exiled government, Rodolfo Pastor who is currently at Harvard University. - LMB

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Muestreo de Urnas Electorales Por Departamentos

(A sampling of ballot boxes by states) 

CHOLUTECA :

Municipio de San Marcos de Colón, Barrio San Francisco  

o    Urna 06341        120 votantes de 323 Electores

o    Urna 06342         80  votantes de 323 Electores

o    Urna 06343        110  votantes de 323 Electores

o    Urna 06344        115  votantes de 323 Electores

o    % Votantes en promedio =     33%

o    % Abstencionismo =                 67% 

COPAN :

Municipio de Santa Rosa de Copán , 

o    Urna 02256              166 votantes de 300 Electores

Municipio de San Nicolás,

o    Urna 02811              170  votantes de 254 Electores

Nota: Las urnas andan en un rango promedio de 150- 170 votantes/ 300 Electores

% Votantes en promedio =     50%
% Abstencionismo =               50% 

OCOTEPEQUE  :

Municipio La Encarnación , las urnas andan en un rango promedio de 180-190 votantes / 300 Electores 

% Votantes en promedio =     65%
% Abstencionismo =               35% 

SANTA BARBARA :

Municipio de Macuelizo, las urnas andan en un rango promedio de   40 votantes / 350 Electores 

% Votantes en promedio =     10%
% Abstencionismo =               90% 

COMAYAGUA :

Muestreo por Urna:

Urna #1423, Centro Jose Cecilio del Valle, Barrio La Sabana Comayagua

171 votos  / 364 papeletas………

            % Votantes  en promedio =   47%
            % Abstencionismo=               53% 
 
 LA PAZ :

Muestreo por Urna (Municipio de Marcala:

Numero de Urna…………….votos………..papeletas… …Abstencion (Sobrantes)

10784………………………..117………….364……… …247………68%

10796………………………..96……………364…………268………74%

10785………………………..110…………..364…… ……254……..70%

10786………………………..120…………..364…… ……244……..67%

10788………………………..98…………….364……… …266…….73%

10789………………………..96…………….364…………268…… 74%

10783………………………..100…………...253… ………153…….60%

10782………………………..101……………250……… …149……60%

10793………………………..102…………….364…… ……262……72%

10799………………………..135……………364……… …229……63%

10800………………………..132……………364……… …232……64%

10802………………………..130……………364……… …234……64%

10803………………………..96……………..364…… ……268……74%

 Total de muestreo :

                    VOTOS :                      1433

                    PAPELETAS:              4507

                 % ABSTENCION =      68% 

 

OLANCHO :                  

Municipio de Catacamas, El Espino = 80 votantes/ 300 papeletas

                       % ABSTENCION = 76 %     

CORTES : 

Escuela Yankel R             Elvin           Pepe        zuniga                tuky 
                                               32              105          36                         55   
  
1ro de Febrero                    40              59             58                         32  
  
Perfecto H                           60              150                       
  
Lomas del Carmen              39               78                              
  
Kiddy Kat                            92               61           110                        51 
  
Centeno                               72               68                78                        17     
  
Kiddy Kat 33006                 81              55       

            % Votantes  en promedio =   62%
            % Abstencionismo=               38% 
 

YORO :

Municipio de Olanchito

Urna Escuela Teresa Burtos   Votantes 70 / 350 Papeletas

Urna 14918  Votantes 122 / 300

Urna 14915  Votantes 129 / 300

% Votantes = 34%

% Abstencionismo = 66% 

VALLE :

Urna 14897    Votantes 117 / 350 papeletas

% Votantes = 33%

% Abstencionismo = 67% 

EL PARAISO

EL PARAISO

QUEBRADA LARGA, DANLI  

Urna 346

Electores: 400       votantes  35  

Urna 604

Electores: 436      votantes 42  

Urna 340

Electores: 384     votantes 58  

Urna 540

Electores 420     votantes 62 

% Votantes = 17%

% Abstencionismo = 83% 

FRANCISCO MORAZAN

MUESTRA

1.  Escuela Agustin Alonso, Barrio San Pablo, El Reparto. 
8 mesas, números: 7970 a 7978. 
Votantes inscritos:       2500 
Votos ejercidos:           1071  
Abstención: 58%.

2.  Instituto Rafael Pineda Ponce, Colonia 3 de mayo. 
42 mesas. 
votantes inscritos:   14700. 
votos ejercidos:          6500. 
abstención: 56%.

3.  Escuela Valle, Barrio Guanacaste. 
4 mesas. 
Votantes inscritos: 1350. 
Votos Ejercidos:       578. 
abstención:  57%

(Received from Presente-Honduras via correspondence)