The Electoral Observation Mission of the Organization of American States (OAS/EOM) for the general elections in Honduras, headed by the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay Eladio Loizaga, commends the Honduran people for the celebration of the elections last Sunday, November 30, in a peaceful manner and with high voter turnout.
The OAS/EOM recognizes the civic spirit of the voters, who in some Polling Stations (JRV) waited for hours in line to exercise their right, both in the national territory and abroad. At the same time, it recognizes the dedication and work of the members of the JRV, the State institutions, the National Electoral Council (CNE), as well as the thousands of citizens who actively participated in the process, in various roles.
This Sunday, November 30, the Mission visited 780 JRVs and 325 voting centers in the 18 departments of the country and observed the elections from the opening to the closing of the stations, the vote counting, the transmission of preliminary results, and their transfer to the departmental logistical centers. Nevertheless, the counting process is still underway. The OAS/EOM was able to verify that the voting proceeded normally, except for isolated incidents in some municipalities of the country. However, the OAS/EOM learned that the JRVs did not open in the municipality of San Antonio de Flores, in the department of El Paraíso.
The Mission documented with concern that in the morning hours, some members of the armed forces in various voting centers systematically photographed the credentials of the OAS observers and that, at the time of the closing of the polling stations, six of its observers were prevented from entering to witness the counting under arguments without legal basis.
The OAS/EOM is comprised of 101 observers from 19 nationalities who were deployed in the 18 departments of the country. The Mission will remain on the ground to follow up on the developments of the post-electoral stage, including the processing and announcement of results.
Taking into account the direct observations, the meetings held with the different actors of the electoral process, and the analysis of the current regulations, the OAS/EOM presents its recommendations below, specifically aimed at contributing to the following stages of the electoral process until the official declaration of results. In due course, the Mission will present its first Report, which will address the process in depth, with recommendations and findings for the improvement of the Honduran electoral system in view of future electoral processes.
Recommendations for the Following Stages:
* That the CNE reinforces its communication and exercises its leadership role in the different post-electoral stages, guaranteeing the political rights of all actors in the process and of the citizenry, in accordance with applicable legislation and its deadlines, within a framework of respect, dialogue, democratic construction, and maximum transparency.
* The Mission respectfully calls on the members of the full bench of the Electoral Justice Tribunal (TJE) to establish a quorum, convene, and reactivate their work to hear appeals within their jurisdiction and thus guarantee legal certainty to the citizenry.
* Complete the election in the municipality of San Antonio de Flores as soon as possible, safeguarding the right to decide of the citizens registered in that constituency.
* That the Armed Forces limit their work to guaranteeing the security and custody of electoral material within the framework of their apolitical and non-deliberative role, as mandated by Article 272 of the Constitution of the Republic.
* Ensure the integrity and safeguarding of all electoral documents, including the opening report, the closing reports of the three elective levels, the incident log, and the voting log, for the disclosure of results and, if applicable, special recounts.
* That in accordance with Article 24 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, the agreements signed between the OAS General Secretariat and the Honduran State, and national legislation, the Mission be guaranteed the conditions of security, free access to information and systems, and broad cooperation to carry out its observation work in the post-electoral stage.
* Ensure that the people who will intervene in the different post-electoral activities have the necessary resources and training for the correct performance of their duties.
* Strengthen the infrastructure for results disclosure with efficient resources, to avoid denial of service, intermittencies, and website failures, ensuring the availability of the service.
* Maintain a cybersecurity service with proactive monitoring of the attack surface of the CNE's technological assets.
* Review security incident management to ensure the recovery of system availability in the shortest possible time in the event of disruptions.
* Verify that the recovery plan on procedures, technologies, and practices to resume critical operations after a disruptive event is updated and covers all vital technological assets.
Acknowledgments:
The Mission thanks the President of the Republic; the President Counselor, Counselors, authorities, and officials of the National Electoral Council; the Electoral Justice Tribunal; and the different institutions that allowed the exercise of its work. It also extends its gratitude for the collaboration of the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the security forces. This is the 13th Mission that the OAS has deployed in Honduran territory and, on this occasion, thanks the financial contributions of Brazil, Canada, Chile, Korea, Spain, the United States, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Switzerland that made this deployment possible.
Reference: E-080/25
