The Story:
Honduras, a Central American republic, held its presidential election Sunday. It appears that Xiomara Castro, of the Liberty and Refoundation Party (LIBRE) prevailed.
Background:
There were three significant candidates for the office. In addition to Xiomara Castro, there was Nasry Asfura, the candidate of the dominant National Party and the mayor of the capital city, and Yani Rosenthal, of the Liberals. The nominees had each been chosen by party primaries in March.
There is a fourth major party, known as the Savior Party, but its candidate, Salvador Nasralla, withdrew on October 13 to become Castro’s running mate. The Castro-Nasralla was part of a broader consolidation of the opposition forces that helped bring about the defeat of the National Party.
There is also evidence of a coordinated effort on social media to undermine the Castro-Nasralla campaign through misinformation. In October, several twitter accounts simultaneously carried a misleading message. Each purported to be from a follower of Castro, disappointed at (alleged) news that she was going to make a deal for the support of Rosenthal.
With minor variations in wording the accounts expressed worry that Castro would “forget about the people to do business with Yani Rosenthal.”
The Thing to Know:
There was no reason to believe there was ever a Castro-Rosenthal deal under discussion. Furthermore, the supposed disenchanted Castro admirers all had profile photos pasted in from the Facebook accounts of unsuspecting Peruvians. The misinformation is apparently the work of someone who very much wanted the National Party to prevail.
