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Honduras's
Democratic Solution:
Why the Obama Administration Is Right To
Support Sunday's Election
Washington Post Editorial
A BREACH has opened among those countries
that have sought to resolve the political
crisis in the Central American nation of
Honduras. One group is focused on restoring
democracy to the country, through support
for a national election scheduled for
Sunday.
A second faction places priority on putting
ousted president Manuel Zelaya back in
office -- even though few Hondurans want him
back and his legal term expires in just two
months. To its credit, the Obama
administration is leading the support for
the democratic option, even though that
means departing from its policy of seeking
consensus with the region's big powers.
Elections have often been used to restore
constitutional order in unstable countries;
they brought a peaceful end to Augusto
Pinochet's right-wing dictatorship in Chile
and to the leftist Sandinista regime in
Nicaragua.
In the case of Honduras, the election
solution is particularly appropriate, since
one had been scheduled before Mr. Zelaya was
arrested and illegally deported from the
country in June. The candidates for
president were chosen by a legal and orderly
democratic process, with high participation;
the vote will be supervised by an
independent tribunal also established before
the crisis.
Polls show that Hondurans are eager for the
elections to occur. They have little taste
for Mr. Zelaya, who embraced the leftist
populism of Hugo Chávez while in office and
was trying to follow the Venezuelan's model
for dismantling democratic institutions.
Last month, Mr. Zelaya accepted a
U.S.-brokered deal that endorsed the
elections while providing for the Honduran
Congress to vote on whether to restore him
to office for the remainder of his term. Yet
when he was not immediately returned to
power, Mr. Zelaya repudiated the plan.
Now he and his supporters claim the election
must be regarded as illegitimate, because
Congress will not vote on his status until
next week.
Hondurans understandably wonder whether Mr.
Zelaya's intention all along was to disrupt
a democratic process that will send him to a
well-deserved retirement.
Unfortunately, Mr. Zelaya has the backing
not only of Mr. Chávez and his satellites
but also of governments such as Brazil --
with which the Obama administration hoped to
forge a regional partnership.
The lesson of the Honduran crisis is that
the United States cannot always pursue such
multilateralism and also support democracy.
Too many Latin American governments are more
interested in backing leaders who share
their political inclinations than in
upholding the rule of law. While loudly
denouncing the "coup" against Mr. Zelaya,
they have ignored the rigging of elections
and the violent suppression of opposition by
fellow leftists. In rejecting their attempt
to nullify Honduras's democratic vote this
Sunday, the Obama administration has taken a
relatively isolated stance -- and a correct
one.
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