HONDURAS: Vote to Go Ahead Despite
International Refusal to Recognize
By Juan Ramón
Durán
TEGUCIGALPA, Sep 9 (IPS) - Although the
international community has warned that it
will not recognize the results of the
November elections in Honduras, the de facto
government in power since the Jun. 28 coup
d'etat says the vote is going ahead.
Costa Rican President Óscar Arias, who
mediated the unsuccessful talks between
ousted President Manuel Zelaya and the coup
government, says the elections scheduled for
Nov. 29 could be "a solution to the crisis."
Others like prominent Mexican writer Carlos
Fuentes have expressed similar views.
But many, both within and outside Honduras,
say the results of the elections would only
be valid if the de facto government of
Roberto Micheletti accepts the "San Jose
accord" – the 11-point compromise proposed
by Arias that includes Zelaya's
reinstatement as president to complete his
term, which ends in January.
Eulogio Chávez, a leader of the powerful
FOMH teachers' union, told IPS that his
union would "boycott the general elections
and refuse to recognise the results because
they are being held under a de facto
government that has usurped power."
Chávez said the National Resistance Front
Against the Coup d'Etat, which his union
forms part of, is opposed to the elections
and in favour of Zelaya's suggestion to
elect a constituent assembly to redraft the
constitution in order to strengthen
democracy in this impoverished Central
American nation of seven million people.
At a national assembly on Sunday, the
National Resistance Front approved the call
for a constituent assembly.
Zelaya was overthrown after weeks of
political arm-wrestling over his plans to
hold a non-binding popular vote on
constitutional reform on Jun. 28. But
analysts say he was ousted because some of
his social policies and his alignment with
more radical left-wing leaders in Latin
America, like Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, put
him at loggerheads with the country's
conservative elites, including his own
party.
Meanwhile, presidential candidates César Ham
of the left-wing Democratic Unification
Party and Carlos H. Reyes, an independent
trade unionist, said they would only take
part in the elections if the country's
constitutional order is restored – in other
words, if Zelaya is reinstated as president.
The National Resistance Front includes the
FOMH – representing more than 50,000
teachers -, the country's three central
unions, and the Popular Bloc, which groups
more than 10 trade unions representing over
30,000 public employees.
Micheletti, on the other hand, has the
support of the armed forces, the police,
more than 100 of the 128 national
legislators, the 15 Supreme Court
magistrates, Attorney General Luis Rubí and
conservative civil society organizations.
Washington takes tougher stance
After meeting last week with Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton and other U.S.
officials, Zelaya warned that time was
running out and that if a political solution
was not found soon, Honduras would fall into
anarchy and chaos.
Once again condemning the Jun. 28 coup in
which Zelaya was removed from his home at
gunpoint by the military and put on a plane
to Costa Rica, Washington cut off all
non-humanitarian aid last week and said it
would not recognize the results of the Nov.
29 elections under the current
circumstances.
The governments of Latin America have also
stated that they will not recognize the
elections, as has Organization of American
States Secretary General José Miguel Insulza
and other figures in the international
community.
The Honduran Supreme Electoral Court (TSE),
nevertheless, insists that the elections
"are irreversible and are the only solution
to the crisis."
In an editorial in a newspaper he owns, La
Tribuna, former president Carlos Flores
(1998-2002) copied the entire U.S. State
Department press release on the "Termination
of Assistance…(to) the De Facto Regime",
urging his readers to study it carefully in
order to understand the Obama
administration's position.
The statement says Honduras' November
election "must be undertaken in a free, fair
and transparent manner. It must also be free
of taint and open to all Hondurans to
exercise their democratic franchise. At this
moment, we would not be able to support the
outcome of the scheduled elections. A
positive conclusion of the Arias process
would provide a sound basis for legitimate
elections to proceed. We strongly urge all
parties to the San Jose talks to move
expeditiously to agreement."
Zelaya has accepted Arias' compromise, which
would restore him to the presidency but with
significantly restricted powers, while
offering an amnesty for political crimes and
creating a unity government of all Honduras'
political parties.
Micheletti, however, not only refuses to
consider Zelaya's return, but says that if
he does come back to Honduras he will
immediately be arrested and accused of
"abuse of power" and corruption.
The de facto leader has offered to resign
and to be replaced by Supreme Court
president Jorge Rivera Avilés. But that
proposal was not accepted.
The TSE has launched a campaign urging
Hondurans to come out en masse and vote in
November, arguing that the elections will be
safe, transparent and respectful of voters.
TSE magistrate Enrique Ortez told IPS that
measures will be taken "to guarantee the
electoral process and reduce fraud and
political manipulation to a minimum."
Since Sept. 1, the country's two traditional
parties, the centre-right Liberal Party and
the right-wing National Party, have been
campaigning in the media and holding
election rallies.
The National Resistance Front, in the
meantime, has continued to hold street
protests in the capital and other cities,
demonstrating against the coup and the
election campaign.
Ramón Custodio, head of the National Human
Rights Commission (CONADEH), a government
body, told IPS that the November elections
are essential for the "survival" of
Honduras' democratic institutions.
He expressed concern over the trend of
growing abstentionism, which stood at "27
percent in the 1997 elections, 33 percent in
2001 and 44 percent in 2005, which is
dangerous, because if it rises above 50
percent, we would have a government without
majority support."
Leo Valladares, with the civil society
electoral observer group Mirador Electoral,
told IPS that the organization will observe
the elections in November, since the TSE is
an independent body and "has nothing to do
with the Jun. 28 coup d'etat."
"The lack of election observers and
recognition of the electoral process by the
OAS and the rest of the international
community are alarming, but in the end it
will be the massive turnout by Honduran
voters that will give the process
legitimacy," said Valladares. |
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