Analysing Juan Orlando Hernández’s disputed election victory in Honduras

ON DECEMBER 4th, eight days after Honduras held general elections, the country’s electoral commission (TSE) indicated which candidate it will declare the winner. With 99.98% of the vote counted, the country’s conservative president, Juan Orlando Hernández, leads the one-round election with 42.98% of the vote. Salvador Nasralla, a sports broadcaster, has 41.38%. Mr Hernández’s apparent victory comes after a weird and chaotic vote-counting process. The opposition believes that is evidence of systematic fraud.

Those suspicions have thrown the country into disarray. On December 1st Mr Hernández announced a ten-day curfew, from 6pm to 6am. On the following days some of Mr Nasralla’s supporters defied the curfew; others banged pots in their homes and gated communities. Some protests have turned violent and looting has broken out. Several people have been killed and up to 40 have been injured, according to unconfirmed reports.