TFH01: ELECTIONS SITREP 1230 HOURS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 001220 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM HO SUBJECT: TFH01: ELECTIONS SITREP 1230 HOURS REF: TEGUCIGALPA 1219 ¶1. (U) Summary. Voting continues without incident nationwide. Several Embassy teams report continuing high voter turnout. There are reports of supplies of indelible ink running low in some locations. No Embassy team reported any security incidents. End Summary. THE POLLS -------------- ¶2. (U) Embassy teams report that voting continues without incident. A few teams reported political party representatives were closer to polling stations than permitted by the electoral law. Most teams reported good voter turnout with teams in San Pedro Sula/Villanueva and Danli reporting low turnouts. A private school in Santa Barbara declined to serve as a polling center because it is a private institution and polling was moved to a public school in the area and, although the commencement of voting was delayed, it is proceeding normally. Embassy teams report incidents of supplies of indelible ink used to mark voters' fingers running low, but also that in some locations they have been restocked. ¶3. (SBU) International Republican Institute (IRI) representatives told Emboff that their staff have witnessed no violence or disruptions and all of the polling centers visited opened on time. POLLING -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The owner of a prominent local polling company gave the Economic Counselor a readout of the company's exit polling data as of 10:00 (this information is sensitive because the company will not make its results public until the end of the day). National Party presidential candidate Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo held a commanding lead of 58 percent to 34 percent nationwide. Lobo led Liberal Party presidential candidate Elvin Santos comfortably in all departments. The closest race was in La Paz, where Lobo led by 50 to 44 percent. The pollster told us that a victory by Santos in a few departments was not out of the question, since Liberal Party supporters may be waiting to vote until they can determine whether supporters of a boycott are intimidating voters. Despite speculation about a possible spike in support for candidates from smaller parties, all of them had under two percent of the vote (below "none," with three percent). HUMAN RIGHTS -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Special Prosecutor for Human Rights Sandra Ponce told Emboff on November 29 that her office had not received any irregular complaints on election day. However, as of November 28 Ponce has to clear all communication with other Public Ministry offices with the Attorney General and she believes this renders it more difficult for her to carry out her job. ¶6. (U) Human rights NGO CIPRODEH reported to Emboff on November 29 that three CIPRODEH staff members were physically assaulted by police, although they did not suffer serious injury, at a polling center in the Colonia Pedregal neighborhood of Tegucigalpa after they protested the detention of Fausto Allozola, who was using a megaphone to call on people not to vote. CIPRODEH alleged that after police handcuffed Allozola, they continued to hit him. ¶7. (SBU) Emboff spoke to Jeremias Hernandez, member of the City Council of the Guadalupe Carney community near Trujillo in the Colon Department. Hernandez said the community noted a large military presence one kilometer from the community on November 28, but the military did not enter the community and did not prohibit the movement of community members. He reported no irregularities on November 29 (see reftel). SECURITY -------------- TEGUCIGALP 00001220 002 OF 002 ¶8. (U) Police reported about 200 persons at 12:15 protesting peacefully against the coup in San Pedro Sula's central park. About 100 persons staged an anti-coup demonstration in Valle de Angeles, located about half an hour from Tegucigalpa, but they departed peacefully when the police asked them to do so. ¶9. (U) Police told Embassy employee that as of 11:00 the general situation was calm. LLORENS