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Court declares Hernandez election winner

But opposition adamant fraud has taken place

Honduras's electoral court has officially declared ruling party candidate Juan Orlando Hernandez the winner of Sunday's presidential election.

But opposition candidate Xiomara Castro, wife of coup-toppled president Manuel Zelaya, again rejected the outcome, saying there had been widespread fraud during polling.

She has promised to present evidence tomorrow.

The electoral commission had already said the National Party candidate's lead was "irreversible."

It said with 80 per cent of the vote counted Mr Hernandez had taken 35 per cent in the eight-candidate vote, while Ms Castro trailed on 29 per cent.

Ms Castro said she was the winner on Sunday and the fraud had occurred among 20 per cent of votes that were counted by hand.

She had been leading in polls for months but Mr Hernandez successfully cast himself as the law and order candidate in the crime-ravaged nation.

Western powers were quick to praise the vote, the US State Department congratulating "the people of Honduras for their strong participation" in the election.

The US strongly backed the coup against Mr Zelaya and supported the National Party regime that subsequently installed itself.

Incumbent President Porfirio Lobo won elections in June 2009 overseen by the coup authorities that most of the opposition refused to take part in and many Latin American states refused to accept. The US quickly recognised the results.

The EU was also quick to back the imperialists' candidate, arguing that irregular votes "represent the same statistical universe as the votes already counted."

Right-wing governments in Spain, Colombia and Panama also congratulated Mr Hernandez on his victory before any official count.

But trade union election observers said yesterday that the ruling elite had adopted a "possession is nine-tenths of the law" approach to the elections to "thwart the aspirations of millions of Hondurans."

Global union federation IndustriALL said "preliminary results based on selective returns from only 20 per cent of polling stations" gave Mr Hernandez the trigger to declare his victory.

It said the ruling class was eager to hold on to controversial laws it had pushed through since the coup, including on charter cities, branded "free-market colonialism," and restrictive employment practices.

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