Exit polls: Lobo leads Honduras election

Opposition candidate Porfirio Lobo took a clear early lead in a Honduran presidential election on Sunday that is putting the United States at odds with leftist governments in Latin America.

The election could calm a five-month crisis which the Central America country has suffered since the army overthrew leftist Zelaya in June and flew him into exile.

Equatorial Guinea vote to reinstall leader denying graft

The presidential election in Equatorial Guinea will undoubtedly extend the 30-year rule of Teodoro Obiang Nguema, a man accused of draining his nation’s oil wealth to fabulously enrich family and cronies while his people suffer in slums.

Western governments that have promised to fight corruption so far have done little as companies compete for concessions for petroleum and a burgeoning natural gas industry.

Exit polls: Ex-rebel is Uruguay’s next president

Exit polls show a former leftist rebel has won the presidency in Uruguay.

Jose Mujica won just over 50 percent of the votes according to exit polls by all three of the country’s leading pollsters. His rival, former President Luis A. Lacalle of the center-right National Party, trailed with 45 or 46 percent.

Namibia Awaits Election Result; Opposition Cries Foul

More than 24 hours after voting ended in Namibian elections, the national counting center has yet to release any results, prompting a warning from opposition parties that the integrity of the process may be in jeopardy.

“Ballot boxes are being moved without any results being displayed at the polling stations,” which is illegal, Adam Isaak, secretary-general of the Democratic Party, told reporters after a late-night meeting between party officials and the Electoral Commission of Namibia in the capital, Windhoek, today. “Results are known, but we don’t understand the delay. We seem not to be getting any answers.”

Swiss voter give a surprise ‘yes’ to ban on minarets

A strong majority (57.5 %) of voters accepted the initiative Sunday to ban the construction of new minarets, a result that has sent shockwaves across the Swiss political landscape. The government and major political parties, with the notable exception of the Swiss People’s Party, had called for voters to reject the measure.

Only four cantons (Geneva, Vaud, Neuchâtel and Basel City) rejected the measure, with the opposition notably coloring the map in the western French-speaking region.

Projection: Swiss vote to ban new minarets

Swiss television says projections based on ballot results show Switzerland’s voters have approved move to ban the construction of minarets, which right-wing parties have labeled as symbols of militant Islam.

The projections contracted by state-owned television DRS say the Swiss swung massively in recent days from 37 percent support in pre-vote polls to 59 percent in the actual voting.

Swiss polls close on controversial minaret vote

Voters had the final say on Sunday on a proposal by members of rightwing and ultra-conservative groups to outlaw the construction of minarets in Switzerland.

The ballot puts the Swiss policy on religious minorities and integration of immigrants under the spotlight. But the highly divisive plan has limited chances of winning a majority, according to experts.

Uruguay polls open with former guerrilla favourite for president

Polling stations opened Sunday in Uruguay’s presidential election run-off. Jose Mujica – a former member of the leftist guerrilla group Tupamaros who spent 15 years in jail – was billed as the favourite, ahead of former Uruguayan president Luis Alberto Lacalle (1990-95).

Around 2.5 million Uruguayans were registered to vote, with polling stations scheduled to close at 2130 GMT.

Honduras hopes to move past coup with election

Hondurans choose a new president Sunday whose first challenge will be defending his legitimacy to the world and his people, and ending a debilitating, five-month-long crisis caused by Central America’s first coup in more than 20 years.

Porfirio Lobo and Elvin Santos, two prosperous businessmen from the political old-guard, are the front-runners in an election where campaign promises have been overshadowed by the debate over whether Hondurans should cast ballots at all in a vote largely shunned by international monitors.

Polls open in Equatorial Guinea presidential election

Equatorial Guinea is voting today in a presidential election that is expected to return to power incumbent Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has run the small but oil-rich west African country with an iron fist since 1979.

A polling station in the economic capital Malabo opened as scheduled at 8:00 am (0700 GMT), although there were not yet many people waiting to cast their ballots, an AFP correspondent reported. Polls close at 6:00 pm (1700 GMT).