The US congratulates Xiomara Castro as “President-elect” of Honduras

USA congratulated the leftist on Tuesday Xiomara Castro “As president-elect” after the ruling party recognized its defeat in the presidential elections in Honduras.

“The Honduran people exercised their power to vote in free and fair elections. We congratulate them as well as the president-elect @XiomaraCastroZ, “said Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a tweet.

“We look forward to working together to strengthen democratic institutions, promote inclusive economic growth and fight corruption,” he adds.

The ruling National Party on Tuesday recognized its defeat in the presidential elections, in which Castro beats rival Nasry Asfura by a wide advantage, according to partial results, and is on the way to being the first woman to govern Honduras.

Before the ruling party acknowledged its defeat, the head of US diplomacy for Latin America, Brian Nichols, already said that his country “hopes to work” with Castro.

“The main candidate at this time has expressed her commitment to attack corruption, address the causes and drivers of migration, and promote employment and more income in the country,” said Nichols, Undersecretary of State for the Americas, during a hearing of the Committee on Foreign Relations in the Senate. “We look forward to working with her in that regard.”

Castro, from the Libertad y Refundación (Libre) party, has 53.49% of the votes. Nasry Asfura, candidate of the (PN, right), follows by far, with 33.98%, when 52.07% of the votes were counted.

The scrutiny is slow because the ballots that have yet to be entered into the system arrive in physical form while the first half of the votes entered in digital format, detailed the National Electoral Council (CNE).

Nichols said that “there were some technical problems in the vote counting process, but there are international observers at each stage to see how it works.”