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.
