Honduras Electoral Advisor Warns: Any Declaration Without Completed Voting Reports is Null and Void

Original article: «Cualquier declaratoria sin contar la totalidad de las actas es nula»: Consejero electoral de Honduras advierte sobre alcaldías y diputaciones

Honduras’ electoral advisor, Marlon Ochoa, raised serious concerns on December 30 about an effort to announce municipal and congressional election results without completing the overall counting or addressing all challenges submitted by candidates.

During a press conference held within the legal timeframe for announcements, Ochoa firmly cautioned that «any declaration made without accounting for all ballots and without resolving all challenges is null, lacking any legal validity,» emphasizing that he will not sign any action that violates electoral law.

Ochoa highlighted that there was an attempt to declare results at the presidential level without counting 306 ballots, which represent an electoral load of 132,006 voters—five times greater than the vote difference between the top two candidates.

At this junction, he directly accused advisors Ana Paola Hall and Cossette López Osorio, along with advisor Carlos Enrique Cardona, of advocating for a resolution contrary to Article 283 of the Electoral Law, which mandates the inclusion of all ballots from each Voting Reception Board.

He also revealed that during the process, 13,135 ballots were found with inconsistencies between the number of registered voters and the votes recorded in the closing reports.

Additionally, there remain 88 disputes and three requests for annulment that were not presented to the Full Board, leaving the petitioners in a vulnerable position.

Thousands of Pending Ballots and Challenges

Ochoa warned that a similar practice is being proposed for the elections of deputies to the National Congress and municipal corporations. He detailed that there are 4,468 ballots pending special counting, of which 2,620 pertain to congressional seats and 1,848 to municipal mayors, in addition to 288 unresolved challenges.

He noted that many congressional seats are decided by margins of fewer than 20 or 30 votes, while 66 mayoral positions have differences below 5%.

«There is not a single elective position that can be declared today without processing all ballots and resolving all appeals,» he emphasized, also denouncing the existence of agreements among political and economic elites that decide the outcomes: «This amounts to acknowledging only a fraction of the people’s will,» he insisted.

Irregularities in the Full Board and Ballot Box Manipulation

The electoral advisor also questioned the legality of a purported session of the CNE’s Full Board, which allegedly occurred without formal invocation and with an improperly integrated substitute advisor, despite the absence of principal advisors.

He claimed that there was intent to alter the order of processing the ballot boxes, prioritizing those favoring the National Party while pushing those benefiting the Libre Party to the end, thus breaking the historical sequential order.

«Why should the Full Board define the order of processing the ballot boxes?» he questioned, indicating that this alteration aimed to create an artificial trend. He even received proposals to count two boxes in favor of the National Party and one in favor of Libre alternately, which he rejected.

Ochoa also indicated that advisors Hall and López Osorio modified official documents, such as certifications regarding recounts in municipal corporations, without informing him.

Lastly, he acknowledged that his stance may invite reprisals and persecution: «It’s not that I’m afraid; I’m sure they will try to intimidate us,» he stated, noting that right-wing factions have historically used death squads, disappearances, and legal persecution to threaten officials defending the people’s will.

He added that the advisors “feel protected by a cloak of impunity and foreign interference,” citing international actions that undermine the sovereignty of nations: control of oil tankers and the deaths of Palestinian children.

«The colonial nature of the country becomes evident when electoral outcomes are imposed outside of citizens’ votes,» he maintained, criticizing external influence in national politics.

As an institutional solution, Ochoa announced that he proposed a decree to extend the declaration deadline, assuring that only a few more days are needed to complete the count of pending ballots and resolve the disputes.

He recalled similar extensions in the past, such as in 2021, and stated: «What is needed is not time, but willpower,» stressing that the inauguration on January 25 would not be affected by this extension.

Critique of Electoral Costs

The advisor also denounced the high cost of the electoral process, which reached 4 billion lempiras, the highest in the country’s history. He compared the number of counts conducted in primary and general elections, highlighting the poor quality of the current process.

«What’s the point of holding elections and spending so much money if, in the end, a president can be determined by a tweet, and deputies and mayors are decided by pacts among elites and embassies?» he remarked, reiterating that he will not support any declaration that does not comply with the law.

«I will not rent or sell my signature. My signature belongs to the people,» he declared, warning that any attempt to declare results without counting all ballots will be reported to the Public Ministry.

El Ciudadano