Conservative won Honduras vote by 8-point margin

Honduras election officials said late Saturday that conservative Juan Orlando Hernandez defeated rival leftist presidential hopeful Xiomara Castro by eight percentage points. With the vote count complete, Hernandez of the ruling National Party won 36.80 percent of the vote in the November 24 election against 28.79 for Castro -- wife of former president Manuel Zelaya -- with the Libre party. David Matamoros, head of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, had announced Hernandez's victory in the presidential election on Wednesday, but votes were still being counted and the margin of victory was uncertain. Castro on Friday claimed that victory was "stolen" from her, and that she had "proof of the disgusting monstruosity." She also called for protests, and said she would refuse to recognize the legitimacy of a Hernandez administration. Castro's announcement poses a threat to governing in Honduras, the second poorest country in the western hemisphere after Haiti. Manuel Zelaya was deposed at gunpoint in June 2009 after he aligned Honduras with the leftist governments of Cuba and Venezuela. This led to 100 days of unrest that included massive street protests and a crackdown on leftist activists. Pre-vote polls had suggested that Castro was in a tight race for the presidency with Hernandez. "With this fraud the Tribunal is obeying the orders of the oligarchy," said Juan Barahona, Castro's vice presidential candidate. Barahona said there would be a mass protest on Sunday to defend what he said is Castro's ballot box victory.