Hondurans choose a new president today in an election that could ease a crisis triggered by a coup but the vote has pitted Washington against some of the biggest countries in Latin America.
Neither president Manuel Zelaya nor arch-rival Roberto Micheletti, installed as interim president by Congress after Mr Zelaya's overthrow in June, is in the race. That leaves the door open for someone else to take the coffee-producing Central American nation beyond the gridlock that has crippled it for months and cut off international aid.
Doubts remain over whether the world will recognise the election because it is being run by the coup leaders and could end any hope of Mr Zelaya returning to power.
The two leading candidates hail from the ruling elite and have tried to convince voters that the election will let Honduras move on.
Mr Zelaya, camped out in the Brazilian Embassy since September when he snuck back to Honduras from exile, says the vote is invalid and is telling supporters to stay home.
Soldiers grabbed the leftist from his home on June 28th and threw him out of the country, sparking Central America's biggest political crisis since the end of the Cold War.
The US State Department says today's election is "a democratic way forward for the Honduran people" after talks to bring Zelaya back collapsed.
The US position splits pPresident Barack Obama from some Latin American leaders who say an election organised by Mr Micheletti's de facto government is invalid and would amount to a victory for the coup leaders.
Mr Obama wants to improve ties with the region -- still haunted by memories of US-backed military governments in the late 20th century -- but risks isolating himself from Brazil and Argentina, which reject the election.
Voting opened at 7am (1am Irish time) at the more than 5,000 polling stations.
Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo from the conservative opposition National Party, a wealthy landowner who lost the 2005 election to MrZelaya, has emerged as the frontrunner in the election.
Mr Lobo says that if he wins, he will plead with foreign leaders to restore support and seek a new agreement with the International Monetary Fund, after foreign donors slashed aid to impoverished Honduras after the coup.
In an October poll by CID-Gallup, Mr Lobo was 16 points ahead of his closest rival, Elvin Santos from Mr Zelaya's and Mr Micheletti's Liberal Party.
Security forces have cracked down repeatedly on anti-coup protesters, causing several deaths, and some observers say a fair vote is impossible after Mr Micheletti temporarily shut down pro-Zelaya news channels.
The Organization of American States and the United Nations refused to send observer missions to the election, set before Mr Zelaya's overthrow.
A series of small home-made explosive devices went off at voting centers and news stations in recent days but there have been no major injuries. Even so, some Hondurans say they are afraid to vote or will stay inside to support Mr Zelaya.
Mr Zelaya angered the military, Congress, the Supreme Court and members of his own party by moving closer to Venezuela's socialist president Hugo Chavez. They accused Mr Zelaya of trying to stay in power by changing the constitution.
Reuters