Leftist opposition candidate Xiomara Castro claimed victory in the Honduran presidential election after preliminary results showed her on track for a landslide win over the ruling party.
She had 53.6% support, compared with 33.9% for the ruling party’s Nasry Asfura, with 51% of ballots tallied, according to the electoral authority.
As of Monday morning, Asfura hadn’t conceded and earlier said that every vote must be counted. Turnout was about 68%.
Castro, 62, has pledged to tax the rich, overhaul the nation’s “failed neoliberal model” and consider whether to end its alliance with Taiwan.
A Castro victory would make her the nation’s first female president and end 12 years of conservative rule by the National Party, which has been roiled by scandals linking it to organized crime and cocaine trafficking. Her supporters danced and waved red flags outside the headquarters of her Libre party in the capital Tegucigalpa, singing, “They’re going, they’re going, now they’re going.”
Although the electoral authority hasn’t declared a winner, Castro made a victory speech to her jubilant supporters.
“Out with drug trafficking and organized crime,” Castro said. “No more poverty and distress in Honduras.”
Crime, poverty and natural disasters have made the Central American nation one of the main sources of migration at the U.S. southern border, which has become one of the biggest crises faced by the administration of President Joe Biden.
A record 321,000 Hondurans were detained in the U.S. in the 2021 fiscal year that ended in September, a 22% increase over the same period a year earlier.
“We need a government that is concerned about education and creating job opportunities in the country for everyone, not just their friends in power,” said Yosselin Mejia, a 26-year old teacher who voted for Castro.
Honduras is one of the 15 remaining countries that has full official diplomatic relations with Taiwan rather than with the People’s Republic of China. Castro has said she’ll consider switching to Beijing if she wins.
The country’s $600 million of dollar bonds due in 2030 were little changed early Monday, trading close to par, yielding 5.6%. (Bloomberg)
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