Honduran presidential candidates
Four of the six Honduran presidential candidates are in Costa Rica to meet with Oscar Arias. His goal is to convince them to pressure Roberto Micheletti into accepting the San José Accord, and to reiterate that the winner will not be recognized internationally. The candidates are Elvin Santos (Liberal Party), Porfirio Lobo Sosa (National Party), Felícito Avila (Christian Democrats), and Bernard Martínez (Innovation and Unity).
According to La Prensa, the four candidates have met and agreed they will come with the unified position that the coup was constitutional and the Honduran people want the elections to move forward.
Ultimately, Arias will have to explain precisely what he hopes the candidates will do. Otherwise this exercise will consist of vague pressure that will either have no impact or make them more resentful. It is certain that Micheletti and others have been telling them not to worry, because after the elections all the sanctions will end no matter what people say.
Days since the coup: 80
Days until the scheduled presidential election: 74
5 comments:
Leave your policy preferences aside for a minute. What is the rationale to claim that elections under Micheletti lack legitimacy? It appears the relevant parties (the candidates, not Zelaya, who would play no role in any case in the November elections since he is not, and can't be, a candidate) agree the elections are not related to the coup.
Boz posted eloquently on why elections can not be recognized.
I'm afraid boz is simply stating his own policy preferences. Almost none of his arguments make much sense. There was no 'international agreement or negotiation' when Chile and Argentina returned to democracy. The coup leaders said here's the way it's going to be and the relevant players agreed. The relevant players DID NOT include the previous government. No one thought of asking Isabel Peron, the deposed president in Argentina, if she agreed or not. The only ones that had to agree to the rules of the game were the parties and candidates that were running in the new election. Same as in Honduras today.
Just as Zelaya supporters keep ignoring the fact that the legitimate institutions in Honduras disagree this was a coup, now they simply try to ignore what will happen if there are elections and Zelaya has not returned.
If Elvin Santos wins, for example, and he is sworn in on January 2010, what then. Under what analytical argument is anyone going to claim that Santos is not the legitimate president of Honduras? And what remedy will be proposed, that Zelaya take over for Santos?
Actually, five of the six presidential candidates attended the event. Unificacion Democratica candidate Cesar Ham attended but did not sign the statement, saying while sitting beside Porfirio Lobo at the press conference afterwards that it was too weak:
"It’s necessary to condemn the military coup d’etat and the installation of a dictatorship. And the candidates present here demonstrated a passive attitude, said Cesar Ham. "Therefore they can be considered accomplices in the coup."
Carlos Reyes kept a doctor's appointment to follow up on the repair of his police-inflicted broken bones rather than attend. He rejected the proposal in advance because it specifically forbids any effort to promote a constitutional assembly, which is the only solution to Honduras' political crisis.
Reyes, like every other leader in the National Front Against the Coup, calls for active non-recognition of the elections unless Zelaya is returned to office and constitutional order restored.
Sorry, left out link intended above: too weak.
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