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The crisis in Honduras reaches another landmark this weekend, with the country's presidential elections scheduled for Sunday. Far from providing a solution to the impasse, these elections will serve only to deepen the country's political turmoil. The United States has performed a volta-face in choosing to now acknowledge Sunday's result, and stands almost alone internationally in supporting the outcome of the election.

With anti-coup candidates withdrawing from the elections in protest, and large sections of the international community - including Argentina and Brazil - already refusing to recognise the results, it is clear that there will be no simple solution, and no chance of a democratically acceptable result.

The prospects for free and fair elections are bleak, given...