VOA慢速英语--洪都拉斯总统选举已过去一周 结果仍未出炉

Still No Winner in Honduras Election

One week after the Nov. 26 Honduran presidential election, there is still no winner.

With 99.96 percent of the votes counted, President Juan Orlando Hernandez holds a small lead. But his opponent, Salvador Nasralla, has accused the government of stealing the election and called for street protests.

Hernandez had 42.98 percent of the vote and Nasralla received 41.39 percent, after a partial recount of more than 1,000 voting locations.

Nasralla and his supporters have boycotted¹ the results. They said the recount did not go far enough. They said it only reviewed about 1,000 polling stations instead of the more than 5,000 they had demanded.

David Matamoros is a member of Hernandez’s party and head of the country’s electoral tribunal. He refused to declare a winner. He told reporters that parties can still file legal challenges, and a wider recount is possible.

The Organization of American States said on Sunday that Nasralla’s demands to recount more than 5,000 polling stations were possible. It urged the tribunal to make further checks.

Nasralla had an early lead

Early last week, Nasralla, a former television presenter², appeared set to win the election over the current president. He had a five-point lead with more than half of the ballots³ counted.

Then, the vote counting was suddenly stopped. When it restarted more than a day later, the vote count began to favor Hernandez.

The government ordered a curfew last Friday. It also expanded the army’s power to detain people and break up barriers of roads, bridges and public buildings.

Nasralla asked the armed forces not to enforce the curfew. He urged his supporters to start a national strike on Monday.

“I call on all members of the armed forces to rebel against your bosses,” Nasralla told a crowd of supporters Sunday at a large rally in the capital city of Tegucigalpa.

Television images showed similar protests in other major cities. While there were no reports of violence on Sunday, hundreds have been arrested and at least three people have been killed in recent days.

Also on Sunday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused the United States of backing vote fraud in Honduras.

But officials at the U.S. embassy praised the peaceful protests and the “orderly” final count that was underway.

Honduras has struggled with violent drug gangs, high murder rate and poverty. After taking office in 2014, Hernandez began a military-led crackdown on gang violence. He has been supported by U.S. President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, John Kelly.

Nasralla is a well-known television star. Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is among his supporters. Zelaya was removed from office in a coup⁴ in 2009.

I'm Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

partial - adj. not complete

tribunal - n. a court that has authority in a specific area

challenge - n. a refusal to accept something as legal

1 boycotted   

抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Athletes from several countries boycotted the Olympic Games. 有好几国的运动员抵制奥林匹克运动会。
• The opposition party earlier boycotted the Diet agenda, demanding Miyaji's resignation. 反对党曾杯葛国会议程，要宫路下台。

2 presenter   

n.（电视、广播的）主持人，赠与者

参考例句：

• Most people think being a television presenter is exciting.很多人认为当电视节目主持人是一件刺激的事情。
• The programme dispensed with its most popular presenter.这个节目最受欢迎的主持人被换掉了。

3 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。