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<div class="entry-date">Weekend Edition December 6-8, 2013<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/12/06/honduras-violence-and-fraud-at-the-polls/">http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/12/06/honduras-violence-and-fraud-at-the-polls/</a><br>
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<div class="subheadlinestyle"><b><big><big>Will International Observers
Look at the Evidence?</big></big></b></div>
<h1 class="article-title">Honduras: Violence and Fraud at the Polls</h1>
<div class="mainauthorstyle"><big><big>by MARK WEISBROT</big></big></div>
<div class="main-text"><big><big> </big></big>
<p><big><big>Election results are often contested, and that is one
reason why governments sometimes invite official observer missions from
inter-governmental bodies such as the Organization of American States
(OAS) or European Union (EU). But there are times and places when these
outside organizations don’t provide much of an independent observation.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>On Sunday, November 24, Hondurans went to the polls to
choose a new president, congress, and mayors. There were a lot of <a
href="http://www.fidh.org/en/americas/honduras/14291-elections-in-honduras-militarisation-and-serious-attempt-to-the-judiciary"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.fidh.org']);"
target="_blank">concerns about whether a free and fair election was
possible</a> in the climate of <a
href="http://rightsaction.org/sites/default/files/Honduras-Violence-Political-Campaign.pdf"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','download','http://rightsaction.org/sites/default/files/Honduras-Violence-Political-Campaign.pdf']);"
target="_blank">intimidation and violence</a> [PDF] that prevailed in
the country. <a
href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/29/honduras-democracy-presidential-election"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.theguardian.com']);"
target="_blank">As I noted before</a> the vote, members of both the <a
href="http://grijalva.house.gov/news-and-press-releases/reps-grijalva-honda-hank-johnson-urge-secretary-kerry-to-speak-against-militarization-of-civil-society-ahead-of-honduran-election/"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://grijalva.house.gov']);"
target="_blank">U.S. House of Representatives</a> and the <a
href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/the-americas-blog/twenty-one-us-senators-ask-kerry-to-conduct-thorough-review-of-security-assistance-to-honduras"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.cepr.net']);"
target="blank">U.S. Senate had</a>, in the prior six months, written
to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressing their concerns.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Their worst fears proved justified. During the weekend of
the election, three LIBRE party activists were murdered. This has
received little attention from the media, but imagine if 120 Democratic
Party organizers (scaling up for the population of the U.S.) were
assassinated in the course of a U.S. presidential election. (A fourth
LIBRE party activist <a
href="http://www.kansas.com/2013/12/01/3152938/thousands-march-in-honduras-to.html"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.kansas.com']);"
target="_blank">was murdered on November 30</a>.) LIBRE is the party
formed by Hondurans who opposed the 2009 military coup that ousted the
democratically-elected, left-of-center President Mel Zelaya. Their
presidential candidate was Xiomara Castro, who is married to Zelaya.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Both letters also expressed concern about the electoral
process, and here the result was beyond their worst nightmares.
According to <a href="http://siede.tse.hn/escrutinio/index.php"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://siede.tse.hn']);"
target="_blank">the official results</a>, Xiomara Castro received 28.8
percent of the vote, behind the ruling National Party’s 36.8 percent.
Another newly formed opposition party, the Anti-Corruption Party headed
by Salvador Nasralla, received 13.5 percent in the official tally.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Reports of fraud, vote-buying, the buying of polling-place
party representatives by the National Party, and other irregularities <a
href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/the-americas-blog/honduran-elections-live-blog"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.cepr.net']);"
target="blank">came from observers during the day of the election</a> and
following. Of course, these things happen in many elections, especially
in poor countries, so it is generally a judgment call for election
monitors to determine if the election is “good enough” to warrant
approval, or whether it should be rejected. But there are two very big
things that stand out in this election that raise serious doubts about
the legitimacy of the vote count.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>First is the compilation of votes by the LIBRE party, <a
href="http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com/2013/11/libre-details-electoral-fraud-english.html"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com']);"
target="_blank">released on Friday</a>. The parties are able to do
their own vote count after the election because their observers receive
copies of the tally sheets, which they sign, at the polling centers.
The LIBRE party was able to salvage 14,593 of the 16,135 tally sheets
(some LIBRE observers were reportedly tricked or intimidated into
turning their copies over to the electoral authorities). They compared
these tally sheets to the official results posted on the Supreme
Electoral Tribunal (TSE) website, and found enormous discrepancies: for
example, an 82,301 overcount for the National Party, and a 55,720
undercount for the LIBRE party. This by itself is more than 4.6 percent
of the total vote, well over half of the National Party’s lead in the
official tally.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Hopefully the LIBRE party will post its tally sheets
online so that these counts can be verified. If true, these
discrepancies are so large that by themselves they would mandate the
recount that the LIBRE party is demanding, if not a new election
altogether.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>The second big thing in this election has been the
defection of a delegate from the official EU observer mission, Leo
Gabriel of Austria. In a <a
href="http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/4584-the-results-of-the-elections-in-honduras-were-changed-says-european-union-observer-"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://upsidedownworld.org']);"
target="_blank">press interview with Brazil’s Opera Mundi</a>, Gabriel
explained why he breached protocol and denounced the EU’s preliminary
report:</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big><em>“I can attest to countless inconsistencies in the
electoral process. There were people who could not vote because they
showed up as being dead, and there were dead people who voted. . . the
hidden alliance between the small parties and the National Party led to
the buying and selling of votes and [electoral worker] credentials . .
. . During the transmission of the results there was no possibility to
find out where the tallies where being sent and we received reliable
information that at least 20% of the original tally sheets were being
diverted to an illegal server…”</em></big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>He also noted that the majority of his fellow EU observers
disagreed with the mission’s report but were overruled by the team
leaders.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Gabriel concludes that although “EU missions have played a
relevant role and have appropriately dealt with lack of transparency in
electoral processes,” this was not the case in this election, where
“political, economic, commercial, and even partisan interests
prevailed.”</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>The most important partisan interest is that of
Washington, which put $11 million dollars (that we know about) into the
election and wanted to legitimate the rule of its ally, the National
Party, just as it did in the more <a
href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/press-releases/press-releases/honduran-elections-marred-by-violence"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.cepr.net']);"
target="blank">blatantly illegitimate election</a> four years ago
after the <a
href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/op-eds-&-columns/op-eds-&-columns/top-ten-ways"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.cepr.net']);"
target="blank">U.S.-backed</a> military coup. The OAS has similarly <a
href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/reports/oas-in-haiti"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.cepr.net']);"
target="blank">abandoned its duty of neutrality in elections in Haiti</a>:
it changed its 2000 report on presidential elections to support U.S.
efforts at “regime change,” and in 2011 took the unprecedented step of <a
href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/press-releases/press-releases/oas-overturned-haitian-presidential-election-in-a-qpolitical-interventionq-new-cepr-paper-suggests"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.cepr.net']);"
target="blank">reversing an actual election result</a>, without so
much as even a recount – again in line with Washington’s electoral
choices.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>But the battle over this election is not over yet. <a
href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/12/01/3790964/thousands-march-in-honduras-to.html"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.miamiherald.com']);"
target="_blank">Thousands of Hondurans have taken to the streets</a>,
in spite of the increasing repression and militarization of the
country. The response of the international media and observer missions
will be relevant: will they investigate to see if the charges of
electoral fraud are true? Or will they simply watch as the National
Party government consolidates itself with repression and support for
the results from the U.S. and its allies?</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big><strong><em>Mark Weisbrot</em></strong><em> is an
economist and co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy
Research. He is co-author, with Dean Baker, of <a
href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0226035468/counterpunchmaga"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.amazon.com']);">Social
Security: the Phony Crisis</a>.</em></big></big></p>
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