Honduran police join election protests

Hondurans spilled onto the streets of the capital on Monday night, banging pots and pans and joining rebel police in defiance of a curfew imposed after a presidential election that was heavily criticised by the Organization of American States (OAS).

Some police officers abandoned their posts and joined carnival-like demonstrations that erupted across the city hours after night fell when the curfew was supposed to have begun.

A statement issued in the name of the National Police said the officers were upset with the government over a political crisis that was not their responsibility.

"Our people are sovereign," said a member of the elite Cobra riot police, reading the statement. "We cannot confront and repress their rights."

Authorities finished counting votes on Monday after a week of increasingly widespread criticism about the November 26 election, with OAS lending credence to opposition claims the government manipulated the results to ensure a win.

However, authorities refrained from declaring a winner, with Nasralla's centre-left opposition Alliance demanding a wide recount of nearly a third of votes, a request backed by the OAS and European Union election observers.

Police unit disobeys

The government was struggling to contain the fallout from the chaos on Monday evening.

Even former TV star Nasralla joined a crowd of boisterous supporters, jumping up and down in a tan suit while flashing peace signs and joining a chant of "the dictatorship will fall," a video posted on Twitter showed.

The additional powers granted to the army and police including the nighttime curfew from Friday were intended to stem the protests and have led to more than a thousand arrests. Up to 12 people have been killed in the protests or during the curfew.

Tens of thousands peacefully took to the streets on Sunday in a show of force for the opposition.

The police revolt began when more than 200 members of the Cobras refused to carry on battling protesters, saying it was tantamount to taking sides. Nasralla has repeatedly called on the security forces to ignore orders.

The police also said they were angry about the death of two colleagues shot while they were enforcing the curfew on Sunday night, an attack a spokesman said was unrelated to the election protests.

Two civilian protesters were killed in the capital overnight, their relatives said, although authorities did not confirm the deaths.

'Stolen' vote

Early last week, Nasralla, a 64-year-old former sportscaster and game show host, appeared set for an upset victory, gaining a five-point lead with more than half of the ballots tallied.

The counting process suddenly halted for more than a day and began leaning in favour of Hernandez after resuming.

Opposition leaders on Monday showed a sample of their own records of polling that did not match the tribunal's.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused the United States of backing vote fraud in Honduras, while the US embassy on Monday called for a "transparent, impartial, and opportune election result."

Honduras struggles with violent drug gangs, one of world's highest murder rates and endemic poverty, driving a tide of its people to migrate to the United States.