00:00For more details on Honduras election day, we are going live with our special envoy Jorge Gestoso.
00:06Gestoso, welcome to From the South. What can you tell us in these four and a half hours of voting?
00:11Voting is underway here in Honduras. Since two hours and a half the polls have been open and so far everything is running smooth.
00:35The forecast is that by 5 p.m. polls are going to close. At the most, at the latest at 6 p.m. if someone is already on the line so they're going to have the chance to vote.
00:49Two hours later, the exit polls are allowed to be published, not before. If not, they're going to be sanctioned.
00:57Three hours later, the public is going to receive the preliminary results through a system called TREP that has been very much in discussion about their transparency, their clarity.
01:12And most of the experts are announcing that they believe that more of the three candidates, at least two and eventually three, are going to claim in victory as soon as the first results, preliminary results appear.
01:29So after that preliminary results around 8 or 9 p.m. this evening are going to start, if you want, that uncertainty are going to be probably questioning about the clarity of it, especially the transmission of the votes from the electoral council.
01:52And probably according to experts that we were talking, probably before midnight, they're going to have the total of the votes counted.
02:02Here is direct democracy. So there's no runoff. There's no second round.
02:08And most of the experts are going to announce already that the results are going to be questions, are going to be most definitely impugnations about what are the results.
02:25So far, the importance of this historic day here in Honduras is that two model of countries are in dispute.
02:36Here we're talking about the candidate of the official party. We're talking about Libre. The candidate is Ritzi Moncada. She is a progressive candidate.
02:49She is promising most definitely much more investment in terms of social quality of the Honduras.
02:57And the rivals are two of right and extreme right. We're talking about they are proposing the shortening or the limitation of the government of the state.
03:12And they are really pro-capitalism. And the question mark has been that about two, three days before this election, President Trump in the U.S. has endorsed the candidate more of the right of the two of the right, meaning sort of a far right.
03:33We're talking about Nasri Asfura and President Trump in social media has already said that the Honduras should vote for that candidate.
03:44And on the other hand, and on the other hand, also announced that a former ex-president of Honduras, we're talking about one Orlando Hernandez, that is behind bars in the U.S., serving a 45-year sentence for narco-trafficking and his brother.
04:03Same thing in the U.S. Conde has been sentenced to life in prison.
04:10Probably President Trump said that he says that he will indict what they call it here, HO, that means the initials of Juan Orlando Hernandez.
04:22And this is the same party of the candidate that President Trump is endorsing.
04:27So that has created mixed emotions here.
04:30And there are people saying that definitely is harming that endorsement, the candidate of the far right.
04:37Other ones, they believe that eventually could give him a hump, a rise.
04:43So mostly we're going to put attention that the six and a half million Honduras are being convoked to vote throughout this day,
04:53are going to be waiting for the initially 10 partial results.
05:00And therefore, nobody exactly knows what is going to be the reaction of the electoral and the reaction of the international community.
05:08There are thousands of international observers watching this process.
05:13Throughout the day, we're going to be sharing it with you.
05:15Here, we have already displayed a special coverage in Telesur.
05:19So we're going to keep you up to date according to what things are coming.
05:25We'll get back to you now.
05:28Thank you, Jorge, for all the details as Honduras continue to vote and as they are going to the...
Be the first to comment