Reply #3: Here's the Reuters article on the election: [View All]

Opposition set for surprise Honduras poll win
Sun Nov 27, 2005 7:59 PM ET
By Miguel Angel Gutierrez and Gustavo Palencia

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Hondurans appeared to have confounded expectations on Sunday by electing a new president who wants to fight rampant gang violence with more police rather than bringing back the death penalty.

Two TV exit polls showed a clear advantage for opposition Liberal Party candidate Manuel Zelaya over his ruling National Party rival Porfirio Lobo, an advocate of reviving capital punishment who had led in pre-election surveys.

Clamping down on tattooed youth gang members known as "maras," who are behind a wave of beheadings, eye gougings, rapes and other violence, was the key election issue in this poor Central American nation.

Zelaya, 53, won 51 percent of the vote, ahead of Lobo on 44 percent, according to an exit poll by the Televicentro TV station.
(snip/...)