Factbox: Honduras' Hernandez leads in presidential race, vowed to target drug gangs

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The National Party's Juan Hernandez had an irreversible lead over the his leftist rival in the Honduran presidential election, the country's election authority said Tuesday. Results from almost 70 percent of polling booths showed Hernandez ahead with 34.08 percent of the vote versus 28.92 percent for Xiomara Castro, the wife of former president Manuel Zelaya, who was deposed in a 2009 coup. A Hernandez victory would clear the way for a militarized assault on the drug gangs, who have ripped apart this poor Central American country. Below is a list of Hernandez's main policies: SECURITY: - Hernandez, a graduate of Honduras' military academy, wants to broaden military involvement in policing the world's most murderous country, using a newly formed militarized police force alongside the army to combat the gangs. - As head of Congress, Hernandez agreed to a deal to extradite Hondurans involved in organized crime to the United States. He also pushed through a new money laundering law and bills for confiscating illegally acquired assets. - A purge of the police force that he began during his time in Congress has been widely criticized for not going far enough in rooting out corrupt cops. A recent census of the force, the first of its kind, identified hundreds of "ghost" officers who were claiming paychecks despite not existing. ECONOMY: - Hernandez says he hopes to strike a credit deal with the International Monetary Fund within six months if elected. He says he will not devalue the currency, despite the fact many think the IMF will demand it. - He says there are a number of disagreements between himself and the IMF that still need to be ironed out, but he has not specified what they are. - Roldan Duarte, head of the Honduran College of Economists, said the IMF would probably make a deal conditional on lower public salaries, tax reform and the privatization of loss-making state utilities - none of which Hernandez has mentioned during the campaign. - A 2010 credit deal with the IMF for roughly $200 million expired last year and outgoing President Porfirio Lobo's government has failed to reach a new agreement after falling short of consolidation targets. - Hernandez has also said he will seek to refinance Honduras' debt to end a budgetary crisis that has sparked strikes and protests by public sector workers. He believes the deficit can be improved without raising taxes. - Instead, he says he would create a new mining royalty scheme, slash tax exemptions and streamline the tax office. - He also wants to push ahead with a divisive scheme to create autonomous free trade zones to lure much-needed foreign investment, and ink public-private-partnerships with investors. - He has also asked for international support for his "Viva Mejor," or "Live Better," scheme but has given few details. - Finally he says he would convene a cross-party pact, perhaps similar to one Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto inked late last year between his own and opposition parties, to expedite pushing through reforms. It remains to be seen, however, if he has enough political capital for such a move. (Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Simon Gardner and Doina Chiacu)