TV host dubbed ‘Lord of TV’ could become next President

THIS flamboyant personality hosts a sports program and a TV show. He looks set to become the next President of his country, but that’s not the only weird thing.

Honduras aims to resume the vote count to define the winner of the November 26 elections between President Juan Orlando Hernandez and the opposition candidate Salvador Nasralla (pictured). Picture: Orlando Sierra

THOUSANDS of fans have marched to back a TV star, dubbed “the Lord of television”, who says his government is trying to steal the result of a presidential election, which has sparked deadly protests and a military enforced curfew.

Hundreds have been arrested in violent protests across Honduras that have left at least three dead after one of its country’s most famous faces claimed a win in last week’s national election.

Salvador Nasralla, 64, is a renowned TV host and sports commentator and has directed a Sunday nights sports program, 5 Deportivo, or “5 Sport” for the last 25 years.

The flamboyant, colourful personality was the press officer of the Honduran soccer team for the World Cup in Spain and after the success of his sports career he launched a game show, X-0 gives money, in 1992 which became the country’s most-watched game show.

It features scantily clad women by his side and in one interview, he boasted of his penis size and his sexual performance.

Presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla gives a speech to thousands of supporters taking part in a demonstration near the Supreme Electoral Tribunal in Tegucigalpa. Picture: Orlando Sierra

Mr Nasralla soon became “the most recognisable face in television” and is currently the host of the political program Salvador a las 7, broadcast every Sunday.

He is following in the footsteps of TV personality turned United States President Donald Trump and hopes to win the Honduran presidency with his party, Alliance of the Opposition against the Dictatorship. After a crack in 2013 he obtained just 13 per cent of the vote, but four years later, he is making his second attempt at the race.

But this time, with his booming voice and finely coiffured hair, Mr Nasralla looks poised to be the latest entertainment star in the Americas to breach the upper echelons of political power.

He is married to the 2015 Miss Honduras, Iroshka Elvir who was quoted in Colombian newspaper El Heraldo in April as saying she was an admirer of Donald Trump and that Hitler was “a great leader”.

“I saw biographies of Hitler, I clarify that I do not want to be like him ... but Hitler was a great leader and had a great speech ... his speeches focused on the problems that the Germans had,” she reportedly told the newspaper.

Ms Elvir later claimed she was misquoted by El Heraldo and wrote a handwritten letter of apology to the Latin American Jewish Congress.

Salvador Nasralla, with wife Iroshka Elvir, holds up vote tallies that he claims show that he won the November 26 general elections, in Tegucigalpa. Picture: Orlando Sierra

At 26, Ms Iroshka is 38 years younger than her famous husband, 64, who married the beauty queen “to silence rumours about his sexuality”, according to Honduran website Publimetro.

The couple are expecting their first child, a son.

Former sportscaster and game show host Mr Nasralla has accused his rival, President Juan Orlando Hernandez, of manipulating the polling results.

The tally from last Sunday’s presidential race stalled without a clear winner.

Honduran electoral authorities on Sunday restarted the long-delayed count of ballots from last weekend’s presidential election amid protests by supporters of Mr Nasralla, who is calling for a redo of the vote.

Honduras unida habló en las urnas y ahora con fuerza en las calles gritó: ¡FUERA JOH! ¡NO AL FRAUDE! ¡Salvador es mi presidente!
Te compartimos las mejores fotos de la movilización en defensa de la victoria en Tegucigalpa. pic.twitter.com/Pea3uHFMz3

— Salvador Nasralla (@SalvadorAlianza) December 3, 2017

The electoral tribunal said it was reopening the tallying of votes from 1031 ballot boxes in which inaccuracies were detected. Mr Nasralla and supporters of his leftist Alliance of Opposition Against Dictatorship have called for a far broader recount.

Mr Nasralla’s representatives did not show up for the examination of the tally sheets, suggesting they might no longer recognise the count. Mr Nasralla told a rally in the capital, Tegucigalpa, that the magistrates of the electoral tribunal “are employees of President Juan Orlando Hernandez,” who ran for re-election despite a constitutional ban on doing so.

“The tribunal is not an independent organism and as such is neither credible nor trustworthy for the people,” Mr Nasralla said.

Members of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) count votes in Tegucigalpa on December 3, 2017. Picture: Johan Ordonez

Officials finished counting nearly 95 per cent of the ballot boxes from the November 26 election by late Friday and Mr Hernandez held a lead of more than 46,000 votes over Mr Nasralla.

It was not immediately clear how many votes could be at play in the so-far untallied boxes.

Both men have claimed victory.

Mr Nasralla had been leading in the count until a lengthy delay interrupted reports from electoral officials, feeding opposition complaints of irregularities. Officials blamed the pause on technical problems and denied any manipulation.

— Additional reporting by Lizbeth Diaz and Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa, AP