[HNA] Abstentionism Wins the Honduran Coup-Regime Elections

[Sergio Reyes]

Abstentionism Wins the Honduran Coup-Regime Elections! Altering the Figures Can’t Alter the Facts.
For Immediate Release



National U.S. Committee in Solidarity with the People of Honduras



Contact: 

- Stephen Bartlett, Agricultural Missions, Inc (AMI), Louisville, KY: (502) 896-9171

- Vicki Cervantes, La Voz de los Abajo,  Chicago, Il. (312)259-5042



An abstention rate of 62% (only 38% voted) in the Coup regime’s
elections on November 29 has been calculated by Honduran Congressperson
Elvia Argentina Valle, using the total of votes (1.7 million) reported
as of 9 p.m. on election day by the military-controlled Supreme
Electoral Tribunal (TSE) and the number of registered voters officially
reported by the TSE prior to the elections (4.6 million). Since the
election, false, preposterous percentages based on altered (and
unaccountable) baseline figures have been announced by the
coup-controlled TSE and repeated unquestioningly by international media
outlets, claiming that these elections broke records in voter
participation. Those bogus figures simply cannot stand up to serious
scrutiny.



We agree with the Honduran National Front of Resistance to the Coup
that the victor in this illegitimate attempt to launder a
military-civic Coup d’Etat was the Honduran People in Resistance who
boycotted the electoral farce! The high level of abstention shown is,
among other indicators, a strong proof that the Honduran people have
refused to be party to this coup-laundering exercise and have not
provided a mandate to any candidate, nor acceded to the cynical attempt
to portray these elections as resolving the crisis in Honduras. 


ELECTIONS UNDER THE GUN CANNOT BE FREE AND FAIR!



On election day hundreds marching peacefully in San Pedro Sula were
beaten, water cannoned, gassed and subject to arbitrary arrest. On the
day before, the offices of COMAL Network, a small-scale farmer and
community food store network, in Siguatepeque, Via Campesina Honduras,
and other organizations’ offices were also raided. Extra-judicial
assassinations of community leaders and a systematic hunting down of
opponents to the coup are on-going, and show the true face of this
electoral farce. Since the June 28th coup, more than 4,000 documented
cases of political repression have been committed by the Coup Regime
against those calling for the return of constitutional order. This
includes at least 30 documented political assassinations. 


Our position is the same as that of the majority of governments in
Latin America, and the Organization of American States, and United
Nations, both of which refused to send election observers to Honduras.
The U.S. is one of only a handful of countries to recognize the
elections. By offering unconditional recognition to these un-democratic
elections, the Obama administration damages relations with innumerable
countries. Ratification of a blatant military coup sets a dangerous
precedent for Latin America and for the world, showing that the U. S.
will tolerate and enable illegal behavior.

     

Our national committee calls on the U.S. government to stand behind
democratic principles in Latin America, by refusing to recognize the
coup elections or the new coup regime that the elections will install.
We support the Honduran people’s call for the restoration of the
legitimate President, Manuel Zelaya, to the presidency of Honduras and
subsequently the organizing of a Constitutional Assembly, in opposition
to the long-term violent repression of the Honduran people and the
violation of their rights. 


Peace Through Justice,





The National Committee in Solidarity with the People of Honduras



-----------------------------

The National Committee is a recently founded national group of
organizations from numerous states in the U.S., working in solidarity
with the people of Honduras in resistance to the military coup d’etat
of June 28, 2009.


      
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