Lobo wins disputed Honduras vote

TEGUCIGALPA, Monday (Reuters) - Conservative opposition candidate Porfirio Lobo easily won Honduras' presidential election on Sunday in a vote that has put the United States at odds with leftist governments in Latin America.

Lobo, a rich landowner, had over 55 percent support with more than half the votes counted and his closest rival, Elvin Santos of the ruling Liberal Party, then conceded defeat.

The election could calm a five-month crisis which was sparked when the Honduran army overthrew leftist President Manuel Zelaya in June and flew him into exile.

But while Washington commended Sunday's vote, leftist rulers of Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and other Latin American countries say the election is invalid because it was backed by the coup leaders and could end any hope of Zelaya returning to power and completing his term, which is due to end in January.

The division puts in danger U.S. President Barack Obama's attempts to turn a new page with Latin America where memories of military coups supported by the United States during the Cold War are still fresh.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly called the election "a necessary and important step forward" but did not say whether Washington would explicitly recognise Lobo.

As the partial election results were announced after long delays that officials put down to technical problems, hundreds of supporters of Lobo's National Party waved flags and danced in a victory celebration at a hotel in the capital.

Lobo, 61, is seen as more able than Santos to lead Honduras out of political gridlock and diplomatic isolation.

"Today Honduras has decided its own future to end once and for all the crisis that has affected us and damaged the most needy," he said in a victory speech.

But Zelaya said the election was illegitimate and that the election winner would not be a true president.

"He is going to be a very weak leader without recognition from the people and most countries," Zelaya told Reuters.

Soldiers grabbed Zelaya from his home on June 28 and threw him out of the country, sparking Central America's biggest political crisis since the end of the Cold War.

Neither Zelaya nor his arch-rival Roberto Micheletti, installed as interim president by Congress after Zelaya's overthrow, took part in the race.

End isolation

Lobo vowed on Sunday to end Honduras' isolation from countries like Brazil and international organizations such as the Organisation of American States, or OAS, which have frozen Honduras out in retaliation for the coup.