Responses to the Coup d'etat in Honduras on Sunday June 28, with special emphasis on producing English-language versions of commentaries by Honduran scholars and editorial writers and addressing the confusion encouraged by lack of basic knowledge about Honduras.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Rafael Alegria: 65-70% Abstention Nationwide.

Radio Globo is reporting turnout from different polling places. Each polling place has about 300 names. In Tegucigalpa, turnout was varying between 30 and 45 percent according to heads of polling places. Radio Globo's reporters found that in some of those polling places outside of Tegucigalpa are reporting turnouts of 17-42 voters per polling place, so far today, with fewer than 30 minutes left to vote. Similar numbers in San Pedro and La Lima. Since the official story is that turnout is "massive" it will be fun to see the "official" numbers. The informal ones are quite an education.

Rafael Alegria, a leader of the Frente de Resistencia, is saying on Radio Globo, that their census of voter turnout suggests that anywhere from 65-70% of the electorate stayed home and did not vote today.

11 comments:

John (Juancito) Donaghy said...

Walking around Santa Rosa de Copán between 4 and 5 pm today, I passed three polling places. The one in my neighborhood had more action outside the polling place than I had seen at 8:55 am, 11:15 am, and 2:00 pm. I don't know if they were going to vote - or just hanging around.

At the two other polling places, there seemed to be a number of people walking in (or, in one place, being assisted in).

Last minute voters? But they wouldn't have voted if the closing time hadn't been delayed?

Strange!

RNS said...

The Liberal party had a special push to get out voters between 4 and 5, and complained when the polling places closed at 5 pm, not allowing those in line to vote. There's no explanation of where they were earlier in the day. Maybe at home watching the soccer game?

Doug Zylstra said...

Rns -

Is there any link up about various departments? All I see are national numbers for President (300,000 valid votes thus far)

RAJ said...

El Heraldo's Minuto a Minuto column and the La Prensa departmental map both provide this.

chela said...

So there was not enough ink for the 300 listed in each polling place, or is it that they allowed more than those listed to vote, implying that the redundant check *was* necessary? My mother used to say the trouble with lying is that you get confused when you can't keep track of your lies.

Anonymous said...

You have been getting Radio Globo?

I haven't been able to tune in at any of three different websites for many days.

--Charles

RNS said...

Radio Globo has had to move their internet server almost daily to keep on the internet. I've had to download new addresses and read the html source code of the page to see if I should be listening using Windows Media Player or iTunes.

Currently they are:

http://64.191.101.213:8213

Unknown said...

I see that Reuters UK has reported a healthy turnout of voters.

RAJ said...

@Victor: see our post on official TSE numbers, which can only be characterized as "healthy" if half-dead is healthy. Whether the boycott had measurable effects will be debated; that the turnout was neither massive nor a groundswell of citizens exercising their voting rights seems to be what the official projections indicate.

Not that this is stopping the press in Honduras, and the dependent press echoing them in English, from reporting otherwise.

Anonymous said...

Wonderfully free, Honduras, eh RNS?

I don't know how even the shills going as observers can stomach it when there's no independent news media. Even Tiempo has been avoiding saying anything controversial on its news pages.

--Charles

RNS said...

Jaime Rosenthal, owner of Tiempo, believes the elections are a way out, so I'm not expecting anything except election good news there.