AMBASSADOR DISCUSSES ELECTIONS WITH PRESIDENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEGUCIGALPA 001223

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2019
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PREL HO
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR DISCUSSES ELECTIONS WITH PRESIDENT
ZELAYA

Classified By: Ambassador Hugo Llorens, reasons 1.4 (b & d)


1. (C) Summary: The Ambassador and President Manuel "Mel"
Zelaya discussed the results of the general elections.
Zelaya believes turn out was minimal and that the process had
not been credible. The Ambassador countered by passing on
the data available suggesting that the process had been free
and fair, and that turn out had been substantial. The
success of the Honduran elections are a major blow to Zelaya
who staked a very hard line public position unsuccessfully
calling for a boycott and arguing that the process was
illegitimate and illegal. Zelaya is isolated and has a
distorted perspective of what is happening in Honduras. The
Ambassador encouraged him to reach out to the newly-elected
authorities. End Summary.


2. (C) The Ambassador spoke yesterday afternoon (November
29) with President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya to discuss the results
of the elections. Zelaya said that the information he was
getting from his supporters across the country were that the
voter abstention had been extremely high and estimated at
60-65 percent. Zelaya insisted that the low participation
rate reflected the Honduran people,s rejection of the
election process in the wake of the June 28 coup. The
Ambassador responded that we understood his strong views and
questions about the elections in light of the coup and the
prevalence of human rights violations, including suppression
of the some of the opposition media. However, the Ambassador
stressed once again that the U.S. believed that the election
process was a legitimate process. The Ambassador mentioned
that most of the election mechanism had been established
prior to the coup and during his presidency, including the
holding of national primaries, the election of new
magistrates to the Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE),and the
formal calling of elections and funding of the process. The
Ambassador stressed that the TSE was accountable to its
stakeholders, the political parties, and not to the ruling
government, whether his legitimate government or the de facto
regime.


3. (C) The Ambassador expressed respectful but strong
disagreement with Zelaya over the elections. The Ambassador
noted that he had visited 10 polling centers and 80 voting
tables in working and poor neighborhoods. He noted that the
organization of the event had been excellent and that the
turn-out had been impressive. The Ambassador also noted that
the data received from U.S. Embassy staff deployed in 16 of
the 18 regional departments, as well as information reported
by the NDI, IRI and other credible domestic and international
observers, suggested a free, fair and transparent process had
taken place. The Ambassador advised President Zelaya to
leave a door open for engaging with the new authorities and
initiating a dialogue that could contribute to a solution to
the crisis. Zelaya agreed that he needed to look more
carefully at the data, but remained skeptical. He agreed
that he needed to consider taking advantage of the
opportunity of the election of a new president-elect and
engage in direct conversations.


4. (C) Comment: From his "bunker-like" compound in the
Brazilian Embassy, Zelaya is increasingly out of touch.
Surrounded by the most ideological of his supporters, Zelaya
is being fed a constant stream of distorted information about
reality outside of the walls of the chancery. It is
important to remain in touch with him and attempt as best as
possible to expose him to other views and perspectives. We
will continue to do this.
LLORENS