Honduran elections close after 1 hour extension

Polling stations closed in Honduras at 5 p.m. (23 GMT) Sunday, after a relatively tranquil day of voting in general elections. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) of Honduras decided to keep polling stations open for an extra hour to accommodate voters still waiting to cast their votes in the general elections for president, legislators and local leaders. In a nationally televised address, TSE President David Matamoros Batson said the large number of voters going to the polls led to the extention. Some 5.3 million people out of a population of 8.4 million were registered to vote at some 16,000 polling stations, which opened at 7 a.m. local time (1300 GMT) and was initially set to close at 4 p.m. (2200 GMT). The Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research reported earlier in the day that electoral observers had seen long lines at some polling stations, and others that began operating at 7:30 a.m. (1330 GMT). Some 700 international observers monitored the elections, which promised a close race pitting Xiomara Castro de Zelaya of the Liberty and Refoundation Party against Juan Orlando Hernandez, the candidate of the ruling conservative National Party.