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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 001220 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM HO
SUBJECT: TFH01: ELECTIONS SITREP 1230 HOURS 
 
REF: TEGUCIGALPA 1219 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  Voting continues without incident 
nationwide.  Several Embassy teams report continuing high 
voter turnout.  There are reports of supplies of indelible 
ink running low in some locations.  No Embassy team reported 
any security incidents.  End Summary. 
 
THE POLLS 
--------- 
 
¶2. (U) Embassy teams report that voting continues without 
incident.  A few teams reported political party 
representatives were closer to polling stations than 
permitted by the electoral law.  Most teams reported good 
voter turnout with teams in San Pedro Sula/Villanueva and 
Danli reporting low turnouts.  A private school in Santa 
Barbara declined to serve as a polling center because it is a 
private institution and polling was moved to a public school 
in the area and, although the commencement of voting was 
delayed, it is proceeding normally.  Embassy teams report 
incidents of supplies of indelible ink used to mark voters' 
fingers running low, but also that in some locations they 
have been restocked. 
 
¶3. (SBU) International Republican Institute (IRI) 
representatives told Emboff that their staff have witnessed 
no violence or disruptions and all of the polling centers 
visited opened on time. 
 
POLLING 
------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) The owner of a prominent local polling company gave 
the Economic Counselor a readout of the company's exit 
polling data as of 10:00 (this information is sensitive 
because the company will not make its results public until 
the end of the day).  National Party presidential candidate 
Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo held a commanding lead of 58 percent to 
34 percent nationwide.  Lobo led Liberal Party presidential 
candidate Elvin Santos comfortably in all departments.  The 
closest race was in La Paz, where Lobo led by 50 to 44 
percent.  The pollster told us that a victory by Santos in a 
few departments was not out of the question, since Liberal 
Party supporters may be waiting to vote until they can 
determine whether supporters of a boycott are intimidating 
voters.  Despite speculation about a possible spike in 
support for candidates from smaller parties, all of them had 
under two percent of the vote (below "none," with three 
percent). 
 
 
HUMAN RIGHTS 
------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Special Prosecutor for Human Rights Sandra Ponce 
told Emboff on November 29 that her office had not received 
any irregular complaints on election day.  However, as of 
November 28 Ponce has to clear all communication with other 
Public Ministry offices with the Attorney General and she 
believes this renders it more difficult for her to carry out 
her job. 
 
¶6. (U) Human rights NGO CIPRODEH reported to Emboff on 
November 29 that three CIPRODEH staff members were physically 
assaulted by police, although they did not suffer serious 
injury, at a polling center in the Colonia Pedregal 
neighborhood of Tegucigalpa after they protested the 
detention of Fausto Allozola, who was using a megaphone to 
call on people not to vote.  CIPRODEH alleged that after 
police handcuffed Allozola, they continued to hit him. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Emboff spoke to Jeremias Hernandez, member of the 
City Council of the Guadalupe Carney community near Trujillo 
in the Colon Department.  Hernandez said the community noted 
a large military presence one kilometer from the community on 
November 28, but the military did not enter the community and 
did not prohibit the movement of community members.  He 
reported no irregularities on November 29 (see reftel). 
 
SECURITY 
-------- 
 
TEGUCIGALP 00001220  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶8. (U) Police reported about 200 persons at 12:15 protesting 
peacefully against the coup in San Pedro Sula's central park. 
 About 100 persons staged an anti-coup demonstration in Valle 
de Angeles, located about half an hour from Tegucigalpa, but 
they departed peacefully when the police asked them to do so. 
 
 
¶9. (U) Police told Embassy employee that as of 11:00 the 
general situation was calm. 
LLORENS