Honduran presidential candidate of LIBRE party, Rixi Moncada, speaks to Telesur about the irregularities in the November 30 elections. Photo: Facebook/Rixi Presidenta.
Amid growing allegations of fraud since the election day itself, the ruling party of Honduras, Freedom and Refoundation (LIBRE) asked the Honduran National Electoral Council (CNE) to annul the presidential vote count, citing the “disaster” of the Preliminary Electoral Results Transmission System (TREP).
“An appeal for administrative nullity has been filed against the vote counts conducted by the 19,167 polling stations at the presidential election level, in light of the disaster of the Preliminary Electoral Results Transmission System (TREP),” reads the announcement published by attorney Edson Javier Argueta, legal representative of LIBRE, on Saturday, December 6.
On Saturday, the CNE announced that in light of delays in processing the electoral results and the unavailability of the results publication page, it has agreed to a two-and-a-half-day extension for filing administrative annulment appeals, which can be done until noon on Monday, December 8.
CNE also agreed to an extension for special reviews and recounts, which expires at midnight of December 15.
In the formal request received by the CNE, irregularities have been reported in the TREP, the system through which the preliminary scrutiny had been conducted and the final general scrutiny is being carried out.
In light of the evidence of irregularities, the administrative annulment action filed LIBRE requests that the CNE, should the action be deemed admissible, “hold the election again at each and every polling station” due to “serious violations of the Constitution and the Honduran Electoral Law, regulations, and resolutions” that have led to “the alteration of the sovereign will of the Honduran people.”
The appeal pointed out that the irregularities also “violate every rule of transparency and fairness in the electoral process, undermine the legality of the results, affect the very foundation of democracy, and profoundly violate the right to vote of citizens and the thousands of principal and alternate candidates.”
In requesting the administrative annulment of the vote counts conducted by the polling boards at the presidential, vice-presidential, and Central American Parliament deputy levels, the ruling party invoked the ground for annulment established in Article 298, paragraph 4, of the Honduran Electoral Law.
Argueta asked the CNE to admit the nullity appeal, schedule a hearing within three days of notification of its admission, and admit the evidence submitted.
The vote count, which has remained paralyzed since Friday, has drawn strong criticism and accusations, including from CNE councilor Marlon Ochoa, who at a press conference on Thursday denounced an electoral coup and asserted that the Preliminary Electoral Results Transmission System is a “real trap.”
Ochoa emphasized that the November 30 vote may be considered as “the least transparent” and “the most manipulated election in our democratic history,” and listed several points supporting the claim of an electoral coup, including the elimination of biometric verification, erroneous vote tallies, tampering with vote counts, automated fraud and vote transfers, and the withholding of crucial tally sheets.
On Friday, Attorney General Johel Zelaya announced the launch of an urgent investigation into the hacking and fraud allegations in the November 30 general elections, which, in addition to irregularities, were marked by an intense interference campaign by US President Donald Trump.
(Telesur)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/DZ
