Members of the Young Citizens’ Platform of the Study Center for Democracy – CESPAD – are denouncing verbal aggression and intimidation they have been subjected to by National Party activists, who have tried to manipulate the polling stations in places where they are conducting electoral observation.

The first complaint was made by Carlos Matute , who reported that in the Clara Barton preschool center in the city of La Ceiba , several recognized National Party activists approached the observers, saying : “Do you know where you’re standing? You don’t even know what area you’re in. I would think twice about being here .”

This statement was made to Carlos Matute, an observer from CESPAD who was officially accredited by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), who also added, “While they were saying this to us, the former candidate for the municipality of La Ceiba , who is part Miguel Pastor’s movement, of the National Party, kept his hand on my shoulder, squeezing very hard. ”

Matute said the intimidation occurred because in the morning , a complaint was made because one of the urns in this polling place contained one hundred ballots which had already been marked with their votes. The observers were quick to report what was happening, while the urns in question were confiscated. This situation greatly disturbed the accused, who then made intimidating statements towards the observers of the electoral process.

In Tegucigalpa , observers in the Mayangle neighborhood are subject to intimidation

In the Renacimiento high school, one of the voting centers located in the Mayangle neighborhood of Tegucigalpa, Cintya Raquel Fiallos Palencia, one of the CESPAD observers, has denounced the constant intimidation by members of the National Party, who are in a tent distributing food to all the members of the voting table at this center.

“They are pointing at us and questioning our presence here. It is an act of intimidation, which should not happen, especially when you’re talking about making these elections transparent, ” said Fiallos , who is part of the group of unofficial observers as part of the Citizen Platform of CESPAD , and who is subject to legal restrictions as an observer, but can observe from a distance.

“Even so, they want us to leave, and to leave empty all of the perimeter. They’re even taking photos of me,” added Fiallos , who said she felt intimidated by being constantly pointed out and by the appeals that she should leave the voting center.

Some short lines at the polling stations. Partido Nacional and Partido Libre have tents set up outside of the voting centre.

Some of the polling stations members (MER) are not carrying their badges.

Matute explicó que la intimidación de debió a que en horas de la mañana, trascendió la denuncia de que en ese centro de votación una de las urnas tenía en su interior unos cien votos marcados. Las y los observadores se apresuraron a denunciar lo que estaba ocurriendo, mientras las urnas en cuestión fueron decomisadas. Esa situación incomodó sobremanera a los denunciados, quienes exteriorizaron después, frases intimidatorias en contra de quienes observan el desarrollo de las elecciones.

Voting at two voting centres [Esc. Normal Mixta & Centro Juventud Hondureña] is going very slowly. HSN team reports that it takes between 5-6 minutes/person to vote.

Set up in both centres was chaotic and people were not sure what they were doing. The voting centres opened late.

Escuela Pedro Nufio (Neighbourhood La Kennedy)

At 6:30 the electoral kits had not arrived to the school. None of the polling stations were ready, but the members were there.

At 8:30 we came back. There was a person complaining because his polling station (MER 09055) the members of the polling station were not wearing the badges. They then put then on.
At the same polling station a guy complained about an observer with a vest identifying himself as member of the FEDERACIÓN Luterana Mundial was telling the members of the polling station how to do things. He did not had a badge. We asked him and he said the federation did not have time to give badges to all of them. He was with 2 more people.

The of the polling stations at the school were doing fine.

There were some mitlitary members (green) and some national police members (blue).

Outside there was a tent of Partido Nacional.

Escuela Roberto Sosa (Neighbourhood La Kennedy)

All the polling stations were open on time but one (MER 09060). That one apparently the representatives did not show up, so the replacements took over but they were inexperienced. The first person that voted did to wrong because they did not stamp her vote before being deposited in the box.

Military members outside.

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HSN team in Gracias reports that they have visited 5 voting centres in Gracias and in small, poor communities outside of Gracias.

There are long lines at the voting centres and the team leaders mentioned that he “doesn’t see how they can get all the voters through before 4:00 pm.” Approximately 350 people vote per table and it is taking at least 1 minute or more for people to cast their votes.

Overall, they report a positive mood at the tables and in the voting centres. The members of MER (Voting tables) are upbeat.

Election observers reported several irregularities in the Jesus Aguilar Paz Institute in the San Francisco neighborhood of Tegucigalpa this morning.

This voting center has 4 voting tables. At one of the tables, the custodian (the person who manages the table) did not arrive at the table in order to receive the ballot boxes. A high-level official ordered the military officials who were present to distribute the boxes to this table – thus the military officials assumed the role of custodian.

At another table, the military officials present stated that the ID card presented by the person who was to assume the role of president of the table did not coincide with the registry. The second representative (vocal 2) assumed the role of president. This occurred at table 8333.

Observers also reported that two people who came to vote presented ID cards of individuals who were registered as deceased. The name of  one of these individuals is on file.

Observers reported a “chaotic atmosphere” at the polling station.

From the National Lawyer’s Guild in Tegucigalpa:

Neighbourhood: El Reparto [Escuela Republica de Chile]

The team arrived to the voting station at 5:45 am. There was a chaotic scene outside with approximately 250 people trying to get through the main door. There were 3-4 military soldiers and 1 police at the center.

At the voting center, there are 26 voting tables receiving a total of 9,353 votes
There are two lines of people waiting to vote. Each line is taking approximately 2 hours to get to the voting tables. People are frustrated about the long wait.

The location of the voting center is a small school that is like a labyrinth. Its very difficult to access and find the rooms where the voting is taking place. The scene is very hectic.

At approximately 9:00 AM this morning, elections monitors observed an elected Deputy from National Party handing out 100 Lempira bills to voters entering at the Boogran School, in the Quimistan sector of Santa Barbara. Sources tell the monitoring team that this individual has a history of entering voting centers during vote counts and distributing money to poll workers to influence the final count. The HSN monitoring team has the name of this individual on file, should further investigation be necessary.

Photos forthcoming.