The people of Honduras have spoken, and it wasn’t the answer that ousted President Manuel Zelaya wanted to hear. With turnout pegged at more than 60 percent, National Party of Honduras leader Porfirio Lobo — who narrowly lost the presidency to Zelaya in 2005 — won with about 56 percent of the vote.

Zelaya, of course, is crying foul, claiming two-thirds of voters actually stayed home (“He is going to be a very weak leader without recognition from the people and most countries,” Zelaya said of Lobo in an interview with Reuters), but it’s other countries that could extend the drama and try to make life difficult for the opposition leader/president-elect. More from BBC:

“Leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal discussed their reaction to the vote at a Ibero-American summit in Estoril on Monday.

‘There are still many nations, especially in Central America, in vulnerable political situations. Brazil therefore must not recognise nor rethink the Honduran question,’ Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said.

Regional power Brazil is among those nations that have said they will not recognise any government installed after the election, arguing that to do so would legitimise the coup which ousted an elected president, and thus set a dangerous precedent.

President Lula has also made it clear that Mr Zelaya will remain in its embassy in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa – where he has been living since he secretly returned to the country in September – until the government gave assurances for his safety.

The US, meanwhile, has indicated it will accept the election results.

‘Significant work remains to be done to restore democratic and constitutional order in Honduras, but today the Honduran people took a necessary and important step forward,’ State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in a statement as the results were coming in.”

Learn more about Lobo — or “Pepe” — here. Learn more about the background of the Honduran crisis here.

(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)