SAO PAULO (Reuters) – A top Brazilian official said  the presidential election in Honduras should be considered  separately from the June coup, the first indication that Brazil  may recognize the candidate who won the Sunday election.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his  Venezuelan and Argentine counterparts have condemned the de  facto government of Roberto Micheletti, who came to power after  President Manuel Zelaya was ousted by a coup in June.

Lula has also said his country, Latin America’s biggest  economy, would not recognize president-elect Porfirio Lobo  unless Zelaya were reinstated to serve out his term.

Dilma Rousseff, Lula’s chief of staff, said until now  Brazil has been concerned mainly with the return of Zelaya to  power and the condemnation of the coup and the de facto  government.

“The coup is one thing. Discussing (the election) is  another thing. I think that this new process will have to be  considered,” she told Globo television network late on Friday.

Rousseff, who Lula hopes will be elected to succeed him in  the October 2010 presidential election, was speaking from a  train in Germany as Brazil’s delegation headed to climate talks  in Copenhagen.

Zelaya has been holed up in the Brazilian embassy in the  Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa since he secretly returned from  exile in September.

The United States has said Lobo’s election was carried out  in an open and transparent manner.

The stance has split the United States from Latin American  powers like Brazil and Argentina that say it is impossible to  recognize an election organized by a de facto government.
Honduran election officials said yesterday that Lobo and  his opposition National Party will have a clear majority in  Congress, signalling a strong mandate for the president-elect  and a better chance of resolving the political crisis.

“On taking power, Porfirio Lobo … will have control of  Congress, which will give him a greater capacity to push  through his administration’s policies,” senior electoral  tribunal official Denis Gomez told Reuters.

Honduras remains deeply divided by the coup. Zelaya  supporters organize protests in the capital almost every day,  although their numbers have dwindled since Micheletti cracked  down on marches and pro-Zelaya media outlets.