Voting begins in Honduran presidential elections

Millions of Hondurans started to move towards polling stations nationwide Sunday morning to cast their votes and elect the country's new president to succeed incumbent President Porfirio Lobo Sosa, whose four-year term ends in 2014. Voters will also elect 128 members of the congress, 298 mayors, 2,093 local councilors and 20 representatives to the Central American Parliament. According to Honduras' National Electoral Census, some 5.3 million people out of a population of 8.4 million are registered to vote on Sunday at some 16,000 polling stations, which will remain open from 7 a.m. local time (1300 GMT) to 4 p.m. (2200 GMT). According to the latest polls, candidate of the ruling National Party Juan Orlando Hernandez and candidate of the Liberty and Refoundation Party Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, who is the wife of the deposed former president Manuel Zelaya, are locked in a tight race, with over 20 percent support each. Other candidates included Mauricio Villeda of the Liberal Party, and Salvador Nasralla of the Anti-Corruption Party. According to the Honduran Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), 700 international observers will be monitoring the elections.