Honduran Presidency Goes to No. 2 Vote-Getter

Opposition National Party candidate Rafael Leonardo Callejas won the most votes in Honduras’ presidential election but lost the presidency, according to unofficial returns released Monday.

Jose Azcona Hoyo, the leading candidate from the ruling Liberal Party, came in second in the popular vote but is expected to be declared the winner of Sunday’s election because his party earned more votes than the National Party.

Azcona, 58, a white-haired engineer, declined to make a victory statement before the official vote count is announced. Workers at his campaign headquarters, however, answered the telephone, “Office of the President of the Republic.”

Both sides celebrated with victory caravans Monday night, honking and cheering through the streets of the capital.

With about two-thirds of the ballots counted, Callejas had 41.6% of the popular vote, compared to 26% for second-place Azcona.

But Azcona’s Liberal Party, which had four candidates on the ballot, won 51% of the vote. Callejas’ National Party, with three candidates on the ballot, won only 45% of the vote. Two other parties had a candidate each on the ballot.

Although the constitution dictates that the president is elected by a simple plurality, a new election law says the winner is the candidate with the most votes in the party with the most votes.

There has been much controversy over which rule would prevail. After the military and the U.S. Embassy pushed for a decision, the National Election Tribunal finally voted late Saturday night to follow the new election law.

Rule Could Be Challenged

The tribunal voted 4 to 1 on the issue, with the National Party dissenting. The stage is set for a National Party challenge in the Supreme Court that could drag on for months.

Callejas, a 42-year-old banker, has said he would respect the decision of the tribunal, but now his party is considering lodging a protest.

“There seems to be a lot of pressures that the decision should be challenged,” said Ricardo Maduro, vice chairman of the Callejas campaign.

The new president is scheduled to be inaugurated for a four-year term Jan. 27. If the winner still is in question then, a council of ministers from the current government of President Roberto Suazo Cordova would take power until a new president is named.

Honduras, a key U.S. ally, has a history of miltiary coups and fraudulent elections. If a president is inaugurated in January, it would be the first transfer of power from one elected civilian to another since 1924.

Contra Staging Area

Honduras is a staging area for U.S.-backed contras fighting to overthrow the Sandinista government of neighboring Nicaragua and is also a base for U.S. troops.

Neither Azcona nor Callejas would be expected to change Honduran policy on issues of interest to the United States. Nor would they challenge the powers the military traditionally wields from behind the scenes.

Much of the controversy over the vote counting stems from the maneuvering of outgoing President Roberto Suazo Cordova, who made several attempts to extend his four-year term.

Last spring, Suazo Cordova tried to name the candidates of both major parties, which led to a political battle with Congress, the Supreme Court and military-backed labor unions. An agreement finally was reached to open up the election to more than one candidate from each party, and Congress wrote the law that the president would come from the party with the most votes.

Suazo Cordova, a political rival of Azcona, named Oscar Mejia Arellano as the official candidate of the Liberal Party and campaigned against Azcona as much as he did against Callejas.

Azcona’s supporters said that he would have won both a popular and a party majority if it had not been for Suazo Cordova’s machinations.

As of late Monday, Azcona had 264,103 votes to Mejia Arellano’s 186,671. Together, they had more votes than Callejas, who collected 423,397.

In addition to voting for president, Honduras elected 132 congressmen and 284 mayors.