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Honduras The Electoral Process
The president is elected along with three presidential
designates (who essentially function as vice presidents)
for fouryear terms of office beginning on January 27. The
president and the
presidential designates must be Honduran by birth, more
than thirty
years old, and enjoy the rights of Honduran citizenship.
Additional
restrictions prohibit public servants and members of the
military
from serving as president. Commanders and general officers
of the
armed forces and senior officers of the police or state
security
forces are ineligible. Active-duty members of any armed
body are
not eligible if they have performed their functions during
the
previous twelve months before the election. The relatives
(fourth
degree by blood and second degree by marriage) and spouse
of each
military officer serving on Consuffaa are also ineligible,
as are
the relatives of the president and the presidential
delegates.
Numerous high-level public servants, including the
presidential
designates, cabinet secretaries and deputy secretaries,
members of
the TNE, and justices and judges of the judicial branch,
are
prohibited from serving as president if they have held
their
positions six months prior to the election.
If the president dies or vacates office, the order of
succession
is spelled out in Article 242 of the 1982 constitution.
The
presidential designates are the first three potential
successors;
the National Congress elects one to exercise executive
power for
the remainder of the presidential term. The president of
the
National Congress and the president of the Supreme Court
of Justice
are the fourth and fifth successors, respectively. During
a
temporary absence, the president may call upon one of the
presidential designates to replace him.
The president, who is the representative of the
Honduran state,
has a vast array of powers as head of the executive
branch. The
constitution delineates forty-five presidential powers and
responsibilities. The president has the responsibility to
comply
with and enforce the constitution, treaties and
conventions, laws,
and other provisions of Honduran law. He or she directs
the polices
of the state and fully appoints and dismisses secretaries
and
deputy secretaries of the cabinet and other high-ranking
officials
and employees (including governors of the eighteen
departments)
whose appointment is not assigned to other authorities.
To be elected to the National Congress, one must be a
Honduran
by birth who enjoys the rights of citizenship and is at
least
twenty-one years old. There are a number of restrictions
regarding
eligibility for election to the National Congress. Certain
government officials and relatives of officials are not
eligible if
the position was held six months prior to the election.
All
officials or employees of the executive and judicial
branches,
except teachers and health-care workers, are prohibited
from being
elected, as are active duty members of any armed force,
highranking officials of the decentralized institutions,
members of the
TNE, the attorney general and deputy attorney general, the
comptroller general, and the director and deputy director
of
administrative probity. Spouses and relatives (fourth
degree by
blood and second degree by marriage) of certain high
ranking
civilian officials and certain military officials are also
prohibited from serving in the National Congress, as are
delinquent
debtors of the National Treasury.
The nine principal justices and seven alternates on the
Supreme
Court of Justice are elected by the National Congress for
a term of
four years concomitant with the presidential and
legislative terms
of office. The National Congress also selects a president
for the
Supreme Court, and justices may be reelected. To be
eligible, a
justice must be Honduran by birth, a lawyer, a member of
the bar
association, more than thirty-five years of age, enjoy the
rights
of citizenship, and have held the post of trial judge or a
judge on
a court of appeals for at least five years.
Since the country returned to civilian democratic rule
in 1982,
national elections in Honduras have been held every four
years for
the presidency, the National Congress, and municipal
officials. As
provided for in the constitution and in the country's
Electoral and
Political Organizations Law, the National Elections
Tribunal
(Tribunal Nacional de Elecciones--TNE) is an autonomous
and
independent body, with jurisdiction throughout the country
and with
responsibility for the organization and conduct of
elections. The
composition of the TNE consists of one principal member
and an
alternate proposed by the Supreme Court, and one principal
member
and an alternate proposed by each of the four registered
political
parties, the PLH, the PNH, the Pinu, and the PDCH. The
presidency
of the tribunal rotates among the members, with a term
lasting one
year. The TNE also names members of Departmental Elections
Tribunals and Local Elections Tribunals, each with
representatives
from the four legally inscribed parties. The TNE has
numerous
rights and responsibilities, including inscribing
political parties
and candidates, registering voters, resolving electoral
complaints,
establishing the time and places for voting, training poll
workers,
and counting and reporting votes.
The National Registry of Persons, a dependency of the
TNE, is
responsible for issuing to all Hondurans exclusive
identity cards,
which also serve as voter registration cards, and for
preparing the
National Electoral Census at least five months before an
election.
All Hondurans are required by law to register with the
National
Registry of Persons.
According to some observers, a fundamental problem with
the TNE
is its politicization. Observers charge that the staffs of
both the
TNE and the National Registry of Persons are predominantly
composed
of political appointees with little competence or
commitment.
Representation is skewed toward the party in power because
of the
representative proposed by the Supreme Court, which
essentially is
a representative of the government in power. In 1985
President
Suazo Córdova brazenly used the TNE to attempt to support
unrepresentative factions of the two major parties.
Military leader
General Walter López Reyes impeded Suazo Córdova's attempt
by
modifying the electoral system so that party primaries and
the
general elections were held at the same time. The winner
would be
the leading candidate of the party receiving the most
votes. As a
result, PLH candidate José Azcona Hoyo was elected
president by
receiving just 25 percent of the vote, compared with the
PNH
candidate, Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero, who received
45
percent. Subsequently, however, for the 1989 elections,
separate
party primaries were required to elect the candidates,
resulting in
just one candidate from each party.
As the 1993 electoral campaign got underway, the PLH
made
numerous charges that the National Electoral Census did
not include
the names of many of its party members. Despite the
charges,
observers maintained that the elections would probably be
as
legitimate as the past four elections (Constituent
Assembly
elections in 1980 and national elections in 1981, 1985,
and 1989),
which were conducted without serious irregularities.
Data as of December 1993
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