Nobel Peace Prize winner, Oscar Arias, said that if elections carried out in nations with "tyrannical regimes" had not have been considered valid, it would have been impossible to transition from the "dictatorial governments" in Latin America.
Source: El Heraldo [Google translation]
The interim government of Honduras is anything but a "tyrannical regime" or a "dictatorial government" (I know this because I live here), but I don't think that is Arias's point. The point is that sometimes elections take place under less than ideal circumstances, but as long as the they are fair and honestly portray the will of the people, these elections can act as fresh starts for states that may have gotten off track for whatever reason (like say, a coup d'etat precipitated by a President gone rogue).
Using language popular at the U.S. State Department these days, elections can be a sort of reset button. A Ctrl+Alt+Delete for a country, if you will.
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