Honduras’s Market Darling Status Threatened by Election Chaos
- Security forces fire tear gas at masked opposition supporters
- No winner declared as questioned vote count enters sixth day
Photographer: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
A week ago, Honduras was the darling of foreign investors, with its market-friendly president seemly assured of a comfortable election victory and bonds near record highs. Today, the nation is shaken by riot and disorder as the much-questioned vote count drags on for a sixth day and memories of the country’s turbulent past return to haunt the market.
Pro-U.S. President Juan Orlando Hernandez is leading by 42.9 percent to 41.4 percent for the opposition’s Salvador Nasralla, with 94 percent of ballots tallied, after trailing earlier in the week. Amid apparent irregularities by the electoral authority, Nasralla said he won’t recognize the result and called on his supporters to take to the streets. Something they quickly did.