Hondurans cast their vote Sunday in a largely peaceful, orderly election, that was nonetheless marred by deep polarization, technological shortfalls and fears of fraud.
The name of Honduras’s deeply unpopular current president, Juan Orlando Hernández, was not on the ballot, but many said his presence was palpable at the polls after his government spent the past eight years dismantling the country’s democratic institutions.
The race, which has been neck-and-neck for weeks, pitted Nasry Asfura, the pro-American mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, and a member of Mr. Hernández’s governing National Party, against Xiomara Castro, the wife of Manuel Zelaya, a leftist former president deposed in a 2009 coup. If elected, Ms. Castro would be the first woman to lead Honduras.
Voters turnout was one of the highest in recent decades, but few held out hope that anything fundamental might change in a country worn down by corruption and violence.
“I hope that…
