No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeArchiveHonduran Veep Says Ruling Party Will Have to Accept Defeat

Honduran Veep Says Ruling Party Will Have to Accept Defeat

TEGUCIGALPA (EFE) – Honduran Vice-President Alberto Diaz said the ruling National Party has to accept its defeat at the hands of the opposition Liberal Party in last week’s presidential election.

 

“I think we on the losing side will have to accept defeat and the winners will celebrate,” Diaz said.

 

Diaz was the first official in President Ricardo Maduro’s administration to admit that the opposition won the Nov. 27 presidential lection.

 

“I have not heard any declaration (from the National Party) accepting the results, but it will have to come,” Diaz said.

 

The vice president said he regretted the decision by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) to delay the release of preliminary results but said the election “process was transparent.”

 

On Saturday, the TSE suspended the vote count to focus on a review of ballots with irregularities. TSE officials said the vote count would resume Monday.

 

LIBERAL Party candidate Manuel Zelaya apparently won the election, defeating his main rival, National Party candidate Porfirio Lobo.

 

Zelaya has 49.9% of the vote to Lobo’s 46.16%, with 10% of the ballots still to be counted, according to TSE figures. Candidates from minor parties split the balance of the votes.

 

Of the five parties taking part in last Sunday’s election, which marked 25 years of democracy in Honduras, only the ruling National Party and the main opposition Liberals were serious contenders for power.

 

Both parties are conservative and have enjoyed a duopoly on political power here – aside from periods of military rule – or more than a century.

 

AFTER SOME 18 years of government by successive juntas, all bruised by corruption scandals and infighting, the military turned power over to civilians in 1982.

 

The Liberal Party’s Roberto Suazo, who had won the 1981 election, took office. In 1986, another Liberal, Jose Azcona, succeeded him.

 

Rafael Callejas of the National Party won the 1989 elections, and in November 1993 Liberal Party leader Carlos Roberto Reina emerged victorious. Suazo, Azcona, Callejas and Reina governed with the specter of a coup hovering over them, as the military chafed under the civilian control mandated by the 1980 Constitution.

 

AZCONA and Reina even acknowledged that on several occasions their governments were threatened by the military, which nevertheless gradually underwent a number of structural changes, including the elimination of the post of commander- in-chief during Reina’s administration.

 

In January 1998, Carlos Flores, also of the Liberal Party, took office, and for the first time appointed a civilian defense minister. In addition, the President was ratified as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Trending Now

The Cocos-Galapagos Swimway Will Create a Legacy for Costa Rica and the World!

At the UN Oceans Conference in Nice, France, which Costa Rica is co-sponsoring, President Rodrigo Chaves Robles has an opportunity to make history by...

Panama to Negotiate With Chiquita Workers Amid Widespread Protests

The government of Panama and workers from the Panamanian branch of U.S. banana giant Chiquita Brands will meet next Monday in an effort to...

Costa Rica’s Bold Plan to End Plastic Pollution by 2040

On World Environment Day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for action to tackle plastic pollution, a crisis clogging rivers, oceans, and wildlife worldwide. “By...

Costa Rica Video Footage Reveals Strange Deer-Bird Interaction

The best part about camera trapping is the moment you pull the SD card out of the camera and stick it in the laptop...

Costa Rica Law Now Requires Corporations to Register an Email for Legal Notices

Costa Rica has recently approved a very important law which establishes a new obligation for commercial corporations, and that obligation is that they must...

Costa Rica Co-Host UNOC3 for Fossil Fuel Ban and Ocean Protection

Costa Rica is taking center stage at the Third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice, France, from June 9 to 13, co-hosting alongside...
Avatar
spot_img
Costa Rica Tours
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica