A text message from a HSN team in the Neighbourhood Las Mercedes:

6:56 PM “At a table in Simon Bolivar [school] in the neighbourhood Las Mercedes, table members caught one person recording the votes for LIBRE as a vote for PAC two separate times in the Presidential count. When they finished, the votes at the end did not add up and they reopened the envelopes to count again.

It seems they had miscounted the number of votes not cast. There are at least 30 tables at this centre and they are not in numerical order making one table difficult to find during voting and at least one person was ready to give up at one point because he couldn’t find his table.”

7:22 PM “Also its a madhouse here. The main doors are wide open. National party people periodically scream ‘Juan Orlando’ and its loud and hard to concentrate”

Report from Gerardo Torres Zelaya of the Organization Los Necios.

Military Police closes School Manuel Soto in the Morazán neighbourhood of Tegucigalpa and prevents the public scrutiny, claiming an alleged chaos that it is not reported within the facilities.

A HSN team observing the vote counting along with National Observers in the La Joya neighborhood in Tegucigalpa were approached by the ‘Custodio’ [Voting table supervisor] asking all National Observers to leave the voting station.

Half an hour later, the Voting Table Supervisor returned with a military officer and said that all the International Observers had to leave as well. She told the team that “the TSE had called and said that everyone had to leave.” She said that people were complaining of interference. After insisting that they were in their rights to observe the vote counting, the International Observers remained.

Radio Progreso has received reports of similar incidents that they will be reporting on shortly.

The general elections of 2013 are taking place in an atmosphere of suspicion, due to the historical experiences of “Honduras-style” electoral processes.

The council of analysis met today. Over the course of the day, we were visited by various respected figures who are part of the International Federation of Human Rights, FIDH, among them Luis Guillermo Pérez Casas and Judge Baltazar Garzon, with whom we shared some of the facts of this electoral process:

1.- The Council recognizes and values ​​the presence of more than one thousand observers and international accompaniers, distributed throughout almost all the departments of the country. Despite this contribution, some have been subjected to intimidation, persecution, and harassment, with a xenophobic slant. This has been the case in the department of Yoro, in a Jesuit Training Center; in nine hotels in Choluteca; in Francisco Morazán; in two hotels in the capital; and in Intibucá, in the community of Rio Blanco. Harassment also occurred in restaurants in Tegucigalpa where some international delegates were present, according to information that has been provided to our council.

2.- The militarization and control of the National Telecommunications Commission, CONATEL, and of media outlets which since the coup have continously published news which isn’t controlled by the groups that participated in the Coup d’etat, such as Radio Globo, GloboTV, and channel 11.

3 – The threats against, illegal detentions of, and intimidation against members of the voting tables and active members of the LIBRE (Liberty and Refoundation) Party by paramilitaries. This has been the case in the municipality of El Paraiso in the department of Copán, and also in the community of San Jeronimo, in the same department, where entry to the community was impeded. In La Union, Lempira, and Ocotepeque, attacks by armed men have also occurred. Also the attack on the members of this party, Julio Ramón Araujo Maradiaga (67) and María Amparo Pineda Duarte ( 52), in Cantarranas, Francisco Morazán, which took the lives of both. We also condemn the attacks on members of other parties, including the attack on Carlenton Dávila , mayoral candidate in Tegucigalpa for the Anticorruption Party (PAC).

4 – The buying and selling of votes and credentials by the National party, even using the Nationalist discount card “let’s work now,” has been observed in many parts of the country. In addition, there have been irregularities in the electoral registry, where people who are alive are listed as deceased, and voters have been transferred without consultation.

5 – Nationalist party activists have been used at the voting centers against some representatives of the LIBRE party. They have warned the LIBRE party members of possible attempts on their lives during or after the elections.

6.- We emphasize the mass participation of voters, despite the context described above. The Honduran population has demostrated enthusiasm, tranquility, serenity, restraint, and determination to exercise their right to vote. This indicates that the Honduran people have no interest in creating a climate of violence. We have called on the Honduran people to exercise their right to vote, and we urge that the conclusion of this process should not be marred by imprudent technological actions.

We also encourage citizens to continue lodging complaints, which we are open to receiving. Our council already has 63 cases, and will proceed to bring the violent cases to justice. We remind the people of Honduras that we are not alone, for we are being accompanied by hundreds of international defenders of human rights here in our country, who are taking note of the injustices and violations of basic rights, so that they can submit timely reports to their respective countries.

To conclude, we reaffirm our demand that human rights are respected, in particular the right to life , integrity, and freedom, rights which are systematically violated in this country.

Tegucigalpa M.D.C. November 24, 2013

The “Council Analyzing Human Rights Violations in the Honduran Electoral Process” consists of: the Union of Workers of the Beverage Industry and Similar Industries (STIBYS); the Visitation Padilla Women’s Movement for Peace; the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared of Honduras (COFADEH); the Center for Women’s Studies – Honduras (CEM-H); and the Center for Women’s Rights (CDM).

Source: Defensores en Linea (spanish)

Thanks to the The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) for the translation of the following mini-report of CESPAD’s observation work today!

5:21 P.M. EST: The Plataforma Ciudadana de Jóvenes del Centro de Estudio para la Democracia (CESPAD) has issued a report detailing their findings of their observations today. Among these are:

• Late arrival of electoral materials to the MER, in at least 27% of the polling stations observed.
• Only 35% of MER opened between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m., the remaining 65% opened between 7:30 and 9:00 AM.
• Only 55% of the MER had representation from all party participants in the race.
• The presence of credentials with names or photos, which presents evidence of trafficking of credentials to the benefit of a particular party.
• The presence of national and international election observers has been significant. According to our reports, 69% of the MER have registered their presence. However, in some cases there have been obstructions to the performance of their functions and intimidation by party members and military personnel (see testimonials at the end of this text).
• There is a high disregard for the provisions of the law regarding the presence of electoral propaganda near voting centers. In 46% of the MER, propaganda was located at a distance of less than 50 meters.
• Also, the absence of electoral registry trustees in an unknown number of MER, that in some cases hindered the start of voting at the time established by the Electoral Act.

The report also describes several incidents that CESPAD observers encountered throughout the day, including one in which four CESPAD and Lutheran World Foundation observers were escorted away from tables 8979 and 8961 of the United Nations School voting center in Villa Nueva, Tegucigalpa, without explanation.

A text message from an International Observer in Antigua, Ocotepeque sent at 4:50 pm:

“Polls closed too early here, some people turned away”

An HSN team reports from the Centro de Educación Basica Simon Bolivar in the neighbourhood Las Mercedes that Liberal Party representatives showed up at the voting table 7963 attempting to join the table. By Honduran law, voting table representatives cannot join the table after 9 am. The team reported that the Liberal party representatives began arguing with the rest of the reps at the table forcing the military to close the doors of the voting centre and shut it down for approximately 5 minutes. The Liberal party representatives were then escorted out of the voting centre.

Honduras voters choose new President amid tight security article from BBC News: Latin America and the Carribean, discusses the death of 5 individuals in the eastern department of Gracias a Dios [an area known as La Moskitia]

“Queues started forming early in the morning and a high turn-out is expected, authorities said.The polling stations opened at 07:00 local time (13:00 GMT) and close at 17:00 at the latest. Around 5.4m Hondurans are registered to vote.The most serious incident on Sunday was the killing of five men a few metres away from the polling station of Juan Francisco Bulnes, in the eastern La Mosquitia, close to the border with Nicaragua.Initial reports said it was not clear whether the crimes, which happened shortly before the opening of the polls, had any links to the elections. Authorities say the shooting caused panic and delayed the start of the process in the town.”

* Young women with blue t-shirts of the National Party (but unidentified) help Elderly women go to vote in the School Colonia Suyapa in the Salama community.

* In all the centres that we have seen, there are people without photos on the voting registry or pictures that do not coincide with identification card.

* There have been problems with the test scanner at several polls of Tocoa. The copy of the test report could not be printed in the center of vote school Dionisio de Herrera.
* There are reports that the National Party has been pressuring elderly people to vote for them.
* There have been testimonies taken by the HSN teams that report that the Liberal Party has attempted to buy people’s vote.
* Sample ballots being distributed indicating which candidate to vote for from the National Party, Liberal party and LIBRE party.