Xiomara Castro Fends Off Right-Wingers To Win Honduran Presidency

By Jeff Ernst, The Guardian

The opposition candidate Xiomara Castro appears poised to become the first female president of Honduras in a landslide victory 12 years after her husband was forced from power in a military-backed coup.

With results counted from just over half of precincts on Monday, Castro held a commanding 20-point lead over her nearest rival, Nasry Asfura of the ruling National party.

The final result is expected to be tighter as votes trickle in from the rural strongholds of the National party. But the tide in favour of Castro, a leftist who represents a coalition of opposition parties, appears unstoppable.

Castro, 62, declared herself the winner in a speech before a crowd of jubilant supporters late on Sunday, and promised to form a government of “peace and justice”. She said: “For 12 years the people resisted, and those 12 years were not in vain. God takes time but doesn’t forget. Today the people have made justice.”