7 News Belize

Will Belize Support Call For New Elections In Honduras?
posted (December 22, 2017)
We also asked Foreign Minister Elrington what position Belize will take on the disputed elections in Honduras.

It's been weeks since the country had its presidential election, and the right-wing Honduran President, Juan Orlando Hernandez, has been declared the victor.

But those results have been strenuously contested by his political opponent Salvador Nasralla Salum, who has alleged that the incumbent president stole the election. In the aftermath, Honduras has been plunged into turmoil and nationwide protests broke out.

This week Mexico has recognized President Hernandez as the winner of last month's election, but on the other side, the OAS is calling for a fresh vote. The OAS Secretary General,Luis Almagro, said that the the election was plagued with irregularities and should be redone to meet democratic standards.

So, what will Belize's position be? Well, Foreign Minister Elrington said that his ministry is still deliberating on it:

Daniel Ortiz
"What is Belize's position is relation to this? Are we going to respect the results of the past vote or do we fall in line and support the OAS in this call for a fresh vote?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"We haven't taken a position on it yet. It's being worked on by our people in the ministry of foreign affairs, and we will take a position on it, I suspect, sometime after the holiday, when the cabinet has its next meeting. We didn't have one on Tuesday gone, and we won't have another until the 4th January. Between now and then, I think we will formulate our own position and then we will be in a position to say to the nation of Belize what position that the government has taken on this matter."

"It's a matter of grave concern to us. We want stability, and we want harmony in Honduras. It is a country that has had close relationship with Belize and we want to maintain that close and cordial relationship. So we don't want to speak out of turn. We don't want to misspeak and so it's something that the government is going to be very careful in dealing with before making any pronouncements."

The US, which Honduras supported in the UN General Assembly vote we just told you about, has not yet declared its position on the Honduran Presidential elections.

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