TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras: Three Honduran political parties chose their candidates for next year’s general elections in primary voting Sunday that heralded the return of ousted former President Manuel Zelaya to politics in this Central American country.
Zelaya’s wife, Xiomara Castro, is running uncontested as the presidential candidate in 2013 for the leftist Liberty and Refoundation party, or Libre, while the ousted president is seeking to be a congressional candidate.
The National and Liberal parties, which have long dominated Honduran politics, fielded multiple candidates.
Late Sunday, Honduras’ Supreme Electoral Tribunal said preliminary results showed Mauricio Villeda ahead as presidential candidate for the Liberal Party while the National Party was favoring Juan Orlando Hernandez.
It was unclear when the official final results would be announced.
A mission of 40 Organization of American States observers said the voting process had been “normal.”
Supporters of Libre, which was formed after the 2009 coup d’etat that toppled Zelaya, hope it will break the lock on power held by the Liberal and National parties.
“Libre will break the bi-party system,” said Zelaya on the eve of the primaries. “Libre is a peaceful, revolutionary, socialist and the hope for this country.”
Honduras’ army flew Zelaya out of the country after he went forward with plans for a referendum on changing the constitution even though the Supreme Court ruled the vote illegal. The coup was widely condemned by other nations.
Meanwhile, gunmen in Honduras shot to death a soldier and wounded two others overnight yesterday in an attack attributed to drug traffickers, the military said.
A spokesman for the Honduran military said a vehicle carrying the military personnel was ambushed with high-caliber weapons at around midnight near the town of Jutiapa in the department of Atlantida, 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of the capital.
The soldiers returned fire from the vehicle, wounding one of the assailants.
Top Honduran parties choose presidential candidates
