Tegucigalpa - At least two people were injured Sunday in northern Honduras, when police used force against demonstrators during the country's disputed presidential election. Honduran media reported that supporters of ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya - who has called for a boycott of the election - were demonstrating against the voting process in San Pedro Sula, the country's second-largest city.
"(Police) are throwing tear gas and hitting people who are taking part in the demonstration, where there are also children," one reporter at the rally told Radio Globo.
Those were the first reports of violence on election day in Honduras, with relative calm in Honduran capital Tegucigalpa.
The Committee of Families of Missing Detainees in Honduras (COFADEH) on Sunday denounced the arrests of close to 30 people over the previous 24 hours.
While Zelaya had called on Hondurans to boycott the vote, his opponents saw it as a chance for the country to overcome the ongoing political crisis, exacerbated when Zelaya was seized by the military on June 28 and expelled from the country.
Polls were set to close at 2200 GMT, but electoral authorities extended voting for an hour due to what they described as a large turnout. Turnout was regarded as crucial for the legitimacy of the election, and Zelaya predicted that it would be under 50 per cent.
Exit poll results were expected to be made public shortly after polling stations closed.
Porfirio Lobo of the National Party and Elvin Santos of the Liberal Party - to which both Zelaya and coup leader Roberto Micheletti belong - are the leading presidential candidates.
For now, only a few countries - including the United States and Panama - have said they will recognize the outcome of the election. Most Latin American countries reject the election altogether, while a few others - like Mexico - and the European Union want to wait until Hondurans vote.
Hondurans were voting for president, National Congress and local government offices.
