HONDURAS VOTES - AT 9:41 A.M. ET:  Honduras held its much-anticipated presidential election yesterday.  It seemed legitimate and proper, and a conservative won...which means that in the eyes of some people it couldn't possibly have been legitimate.  From The Wall Street Journal:

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- A conservative rancher named Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo took the Honduran presidency in elections Sunday, five months after the country's last elected president was forced out of the country at gunpoint. Now Hondurans must wait to see if the international community, which has been divided over the crisis, accepts the winner as legitimate.

The results gave Mr. Lobo 56% of the vote, well ahead of Liberal Party candidate Elvin Santos at 38%, confirming voters' expected punishment of the Liberals -- party of both the deposed president and the interim government that ousted him.

That's an awfully persuasive victory, don't you think?

While the small Central American nation is expected to get crucial support from the U.S., it will likely continue to face opposition from regional heavyweights such as Brazil and Argentina. The U.S., in agreeing to accept the winner, is now in a delicate position -- with Brazil, for example, which is housing exiled leader Manuel Zelaya in its Honduran embassy and recognizes him as president.

Brazil's president hosted the president of Iran this last week.  The Brazilian regime associates with only the best people.

Note this:

About 61% of Hondurans voted, and turnout, which was up from 2005, was seen as a crucial factor in persuading more countries to back the vote. The turnout was a loss for Mr. Zelaya, who had urged supporters to boycott the election. After the vote, Mr. Zelaya condemned the elections on CNN saying: "Absenteeism triumphed. ... These elections don't correct the coup d'etat."

Zelaya is an ally of Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.  He gets support from some of the leftist regimes in Latin America and from the usual suspects here.  Apparently the Honduran people are less enthusiastic.

November 30, 2009