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A12 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 9 december 2017

Last day to make formal challenge to Honduras’ election

exclude Honduras’ elector- By Friday afternoon the
al court. Complaints must votes from more than 400
be filed by midnight Friday. ballot boxes had been
Both Nasralla and incum- counted.
bent Juan Orlando Hernan- The electoral court said in
dez have claimed victory. a statement that the count
On Thursday, the European could last five to six days.
Union’s election observa- Civil society representatives
tion team reminded can- and international monitors
didates that the deadline were overseeing the count.
was nearing. Later, the Hernandez held a lead of
United States’ top diplo- more than 52,000 votes, or
mat in Honduras urged the 1.6 percent, in the original
electoral court to carefully tally.
consider any additional Reinaldo Sanchez, leader
complaints it receives. of Hernandez’s National
U.S. Charge d’Affaires Party, called for the elec-
Heide Fulton said in a state- toral court to pick up the
ment that observers from pace “so that Hondurans
the EU and the Organiza- can know the president-
tion of American States elect.”
had found some irregulari- But Nasralla said the court
ties in the election process. had no credibility. “It no
Opposition Alliance presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla, left, and ousted Honduran President
Manuel Zelaya read a newspaper prior to a press conference in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Thursday, Meanwhile, the electoral longer enjoys the trust of
Dec. 7, 2017. court was conducting a Hondurans because of im-
(AP Photo/Fernando Antonio) hand count of votes in proper manipulations,” he
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras formal complaint about Challenger Salvador Nas- nearly 5,000 election box- said.
(AP) — International ob- the country’s troubled Nov. ralla and his opposition al- es whose results were not Nasralla’s supporters said
servers urged Honduras’ 26 election as the deadline liance have demanded a registered the night of the they would mount more
opposition Friday to file a fast approaches. total recount that would election. protests in the capital.q

Brazil’s Temer loses key minister before pension vote

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Temer coalition partner, to business leaders to back
Brazilian President Michel leave the cabinet in recent the overhaul, which is a
Temer lost a key liaison weeks. central pillar of his plan to
in Congress Friday as he Several Temer allies want help Brazil recover from a
struggles to corral enough the party out of the cabi- protracted recession. Te-
votes to push through an net entirely because it has mer asked businessmen at
ambitious pension reform. not delivered votes. a chemical industry confer-
Congressman Antonio Im- Temer aims to send the un- ence to help him drum up
bassahy resigned from his popular pension reform to support for the reform in
role as institutional relations Congress before Christmas. Congress.
minister, acting as a mid- Politicians, however, say The vote faces an uphill
dleman between Temer he’s falling short of the 308 battle as Congress strug-
and the rest of Congress. votes needed to pass the gles with corruption allega-
But he said he would re- reform. The pension over- tions and as Brazil’s 2018
main loyal to the embat- haul would set a minimum elections near.q
tled leader, who has been retirement age and require
Brazil’s President Michel Temer talks on his cell phone in Brasilia,
Brazil. Temer urged business leaders on Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, to slipping in the polls. most people to work more
support an unpopular social security overhaul in a push to get Imbassahy is the second years to receive full ben-
it passed. minister from the Brazilian efits.
(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) Social Democracy Party, a Earlier Friday, Temer urged /arubatoday/