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Two dead as Honduran army enforces curfew while vote count stalls

02 December 2017 23:32 (UTC +04:00)

Two people died as Honduran security forces clashed with demonstrators and fanned out to enforce a curfew, officials said on Saturday, after a contested presidential election triggered looting and protests, APA reports quoting Reuters.

At least three people have now died and hundreds have been arrested after the tally from last Sunday’s presidential race stalled without a clear winner and opposition leaders accused the government of trying to steal the election.

TV star Salvador Nasralla on Saturday accused his rival, President Juan Orlando Hernandez, of carrying out a coup by manipulating the vote count and declaring the curfew to stifle protests.

International concern has grown about the electoral crisis in the poor Central American country, which struggles with violent drug gangs and one of the world’s highest murder rates.

Nasralla’s early lead on Monday was later reversed in favor of Hernandez, leading to accusations of vote fraud and calls for protests. Disputed votes could swing the outcome.

Nasralla held fast to his party’s demands for a wider recount of disputed ballots, and on Saturday official results remained held up by Nasralla’s demands that a recount of nearly 6 percent of the vote be extended to include thousands more polling stations. His party has refused to participate in the limited recount, forcing a stand-off with the ruling party and election authorities.

Many businesses around the capital were shuttered on Saturday as military forces manned outposts around key government buildings.

One man was killed in the port city of La Ceiba on Friday and a 19-year old woman was shot in the head early Saturday in Tegucigalpa as soldiers busted up protesters’ blockades of rubble and burning tires that had snarled traffic in the capital and major ports, a spokesman for the national police said.