2009 Honduran general election
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 49.88% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Presidential election | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lobo: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Santos: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 128 seats in the National Congress 65 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
|
General elections were held in Honduras on 29 November 2009, including presidential, parliamentary and local elections.[1][2] Voters went to the polls to elect:
- A new President of Honduras to serve a four-year term starting on 27 January 2010.
- 128 members to serve a four-year term in the National Congress.
- Representatives in municipal (local) governments.
The possibility of having a "fourth ballot box" (Spanish: cuarta urna) at the 29 November election regarding the convocation of a National Constituent Assembly[3] constituted a major element of the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis.
Campaigning
Preceding the planned November elections, the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis (ouster of president Manuel Zelaya) occurred, bringing the legitimacy of the elections into doubt.[4][5][6][7]
Campaigning by candidates took place for the three months prior to 29 November in the context of conflict between the de facto government, the de jure government, and resistance to the de facto government, mostly coordinated by the
Nearly one month of this campaign period was covered by the Micheletti de facto government Decree PCM-M-016-2009, signed on 22 September 2009 and rescinded on 19 October 2009.
Hundreds of candidates, including presidential candidate
Presidential candidates
The candidates of the two main political parties were former presidential candidate
The table below shows all six continuing and withdrawn candidates, in the order published by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.[17]
Candidate | Party/Independent |
---|---|
Porfirio Lobo Sosa | National Party |
Bernard Martínez | Innovation and Unity Party-Social-Democracy (PINU)
|
Felicito Ávila | Christian Democrat Party (CD) |
Elvin Santos
|
Liberal Party |
César Ham | Democratic Unification Party (PUD) |
Carlos H. Reyes |
Opinion polls
A pre-election poll conducted between 23 and 29 August 2009 by COIMER & OP showed a relative majority (41%) who would not declare a voting preference or would not vote in favour of any of the six candidates.[19] By mid-October this had dropped to a minority (29%) according to a CID-Gallup poll.[20] Porfirio Lobo's support increased from 28% in August to 37% in October, and Elvin Santos' support increased from 14% to 21%. According to the two polls, Carlos H. Reyes' support dropped from 12% to 6%, while the other three candidates increased from 1–2% support in August to 2–3% in October.[19] A popularity rating question in the COIMER & OP August poll, concerning positive, average and negative opinions towards presidential candidates and other prominent people, found that Porfirio Lobo had more negative than positive popularity (34% versus 30%), as did Elvin Santos (45% versus 19%) and the de facto President Roberto Micheletti (56% versus 16%) and César Ham (20% versus 16%). Carlos H. Reyes had more positive than negative ratings (25% versus 14%), as did de jure President Manuel Zelaya (45% versus 26%).[19]
polling organisation, [ref] | date | poll details | candidate | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Porfirio Lobo | Bernard Martínez | Felicito Ávila | Elvin Santos
|
César Ham | Carlos Reyes (withdrew 9 Nov)[15][16][18] | (other response) | |||
CID-Gallup[20][21] | 13–19 October 2009 | national; 1420 people | 37% | 2% | 2% | 21% | 3% | 6% | 29% |
COIMER & OP[19] | 23–29 August 2009 | national; 1470 people | 28% | 1% | 1% | 14% | 2% | 12% | 41% |
CID-Gallup[22] | 30 June–4 July 2009 | national; 1204 people | 42% | – | – | 37% | – | – | – |
Conduct
Over thirty thousand security personnel were involved in running the election, including 12,000 military, 14,000 police officers and 5000 reservists.[23] Mayors were requested by the army to provide lists of "enemies" (Spanish: enemigos) of the electoral process in order to "neutralise" them (Spanish: neutralizarlos).[23]
On election day, police and military suppressed an anti-election rally in San Pedro Sula, with reports of one death plus injuries and arrests.[25][unreliable source?] There were also reports that employees of government agencies and private businesses were being told that they would be fired if they did not vote.[26][unreliable source?]
The
Despite few outside legal observers, the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute were there as American observers. The IRI supported the projections of 61% from the interim government and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.[29] The NDI has so far not commented on their projection of the vote turnout, however have commented on an independent, local Honduran observer part-funded by USAID,[30] the Hagamos Democracia who put the turnout on 48%. The NDI commented that they had a low margin of error on what percentage of the votes were allocated to the candidates as they had successfully projected the vote's outcome: 56 percent for Lobo and 38 percent for Santos. He also said a 48 percent turnout would be consistent with a trend of increasing abstention in Honduras. Turnout was 55 percent in the 2005 election that brought Zelaya to office, 10 percentage points lower than in the previous election.[31] Official turnout was revised down to 49%, a figure consistent with the TSE's own internal figures on election day but over which it had preferred to announce the entirely unfounded but rather more politically convenient 61%, as was caught on video at the time.[32] 49% incidentally, is also a decline on the 55% 2005 election turnout.[33]
Results
President
Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Porfirio Lobo Sosa | National Party | 1,213,695 | 56.56 | |
Elvin Santos | Liberal Party | 817,524 | 38.10 | |
Bernard Martínez Valerio | Innovation and Unity Party | 39,960 | 1.86 | |
Felicito Ávila | Christian Democratic Party | 38,413 | 1.79 | |
César Ham | Democratic Unification Party | 36,420 | 1.70 | |
Total | 2,146,012 | 100.00 | ||
Valid votes | 2,146,012 | 93.30 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 154,044 | 6.70 | ||
Total votes | 2,300,056 | 100.00 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 4,611,211 | 49.88 | ||
Source: NDI |
National Congress
Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
National Party | 8,561,577 | 53.37 | 71 | +16 | |
Liberal Party | 4,937,995 | 30.78 | 45 | –17 | |
Innovation and Unity Party | 1,031,218 | 6.43 | 3 | +1 | |
Christian Democratic Party | 782,551 | 4.88 | 5 | +1 | |
Democratic Unification Party | 723,744 | 4.51 | 4 | –1 | |
Independent People's Progressive Movement | 3,545 | 0.02 | 0 | New | |
Total | 16,040,630 | 100.00 | 128 | 0 | |
Valid votes | 2,146,012 | 93.30 | |||
Invalid/blank votes | 154,044 | 6.70 | |||
Total votes | 2,300,056 | 100.00 | |||
Source: TSE, IFES |
Reactions
Organisations and individuals in Honduras, including the
Honduras
Hundreds of people made a noisy drive-by protest in Tegucigalpa on 1 December to symbolise their rejection of the elections and to highlight that the turnout estimates of over 60% were inaccurate.[39] Zelaya's aide Carlos Reina called for the elections to be cancelled.[39]
In early November 2009, Dagoberto Suazo of the
On 6 November 2009, following the failure of Micheletti and Zelaya to together create a "unity cabinet", Zelaya called for a boycott of the 29 November election.[40]
On 9 November 2009, following a national meeting of leaders of the
Canadian investigative journalist
International
Mercosur declared on 24 July 2009 that it would not recognise the results of the planned November elections or any other elections organised under Micheletti.[4] President Cristina Kirchner of Argentina stated, "We must condemn any benevolent coup attempt, that is, when through a civilian-military coup legitimate authorities are ousted followed by attempts to legalize the situation by calling new elections. This would be the death kiss for the OAS democratic charter and turning the Mercosur democratic charter in mere fiction".[4] On 10 August, the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) also declared that it would not recognise the results of elections held while the de facto Micheletti government remained in power.[5] On 17 August, President Felipe Calderón of Mexico, together with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, made a similar statement.[6] On September 3, the US State Department issued a statement revoking all non-humanitarian assistance to Honduras and said, of the November 29 elections "At this moment, we would not be able to support the outcome of the scheduled elections".[7]
The U.S. has since changed position and announced that it will recognize the results of the election as a part of the San Jose-Tegucigalpa Accord.
In the days preceding the elections, Israel, Italy, Colombia, Panama, Peru, Germany, Costa Rica and Japan also announced their intentions to recognize the results of the elections.[49][50][51][52]
On 30 November at the 19th Ibero-American Summit in Estoril, Portugal the governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Spain, Uruguay, and Venezuela announced they would not recognize the elections whereas Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama said that they would.[53] On 7 December the five Mercosur member states once again ratified their decision of not recognizing the election of Porfirio Lobo.[54]
References
- ^ "Pol tica - Autoridad electoral de Honduras convoca elección general para 29 de noviembre - ADN.es". Archived from the original on 2 November 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2009.
- ^ "IFES Election Guide | Country Profile: Honduras". electionguide.org. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
- ^ "Honduras: busca reforma constitucional". BBC Spanish. 24 March 2009. Retrieved 11 July 2009.
- ^ a b c d e "Mercosur warns it rejects any attempt to call new elections in Honduras". Mercopress. 25 July 2009. Archived from the original on 26 July 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2009.
- ^ a b c "Union of South American Nations rejects elections under Honduran de facto regime". Guelph Mercury/AP/The Canadian Press. 10 August 2009. Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
- ^ government of Mexico. 17 August 2009. Archivedfrom the original on 25 August 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
- ^ a b US State Department (3 September 2009). "Termination of Assistance and Other Measures Affecting the De Facto Regime in Honduras". US State Department. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
- ^ a b Rosenberg, Mica; Gustavo Palencia (19 October 2009). "Honduras de facto leader lifts ban on media, protests". Reuters. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 19 October 2009.
- ^ Ordaz, Pablo (28 September 2009). "Micheletti ordena el cierre de los medios de comunicación afines a Zelaya" (in Spanish). El País. Archived from the original on 13 May 2011. Retrieved 19 October 2009.
- ^ "Carta de renuncia de Carlos H. Reye". Vos el Soberano. 9 November 2009. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ a b Innovation and Unity Party (23 February 2009). "Sindicalista Bernard Martínez primer candidato presidencial negro en Honduras". Innovation and Unity Party. Archived from the original on 10 May 2008. Retrieved 27 August 2009.
- ^ "Bernard Martínez". La Tribuna. 20 July 2009. Archived from the original on 11 August 2010. Retrieved 27 August 2009.
- ^ a b "International Mission denounces the brutal repression of pacific demonstrations". Agencia Latinoamerica de Información. 30 July 2009. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2009.
- ^ La Prensa. 31 July 2009. Archived from the originalon 13 July 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2009.
- ^ a b c d e "Carlos H. Reyes anuncia su retiro de los comicios" (in Spanish). El Tiempo (Honduras). 8 November 2009. Archived from the original on 12 November 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
- ^ a b c d e "Carlos H. Reyes oficializa su renuncia" (in Spanish). La Tribuna. 9 November 2009. Archived from the original on 30 October 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
- ^ "Publicación del voto despeja incógnitas" (in Spanish). Tiempo. 2009. Archived from the original on 7 August 2009. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
- ^ a b c "BBC Mundo - América Latina - Honduras: piden boicotear las elecciones". www.bbc.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 December 2021.
- ^ a b c d "Estudio de Opinión Pública – Nivel Nacional" (PDF) (in Spanish). COIMER & OP (Consultores en Investigación de Mercados y Opinión Pública). 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 December 2009. Retrieved 7 October 2009.
- ^ a b "El opositor Porfirio Lobo aventaja en 16 puntos al oficialista en Honduras, según una encuesta". Casamerica. 27 October 2009. Archived from the original on 5 November 2009. Retrieved 6 November 2009.
- ^ "Lobo 16 puntos arriba a 32 días de comicios" (in Spanish). La Prensa (Honduras). 26 October 2009. Archived from the original on 30 October 2009. Retrieved 5 November 2009.
- ^ "Hondurans Would Back Lobo Sosa for President". Angus Reid Global Monitor. 6 July 2009. Archived from the original on 2 December 2009. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
- ^ a b "El signo de la represión". El Tiempo (Honduras). November 2009. Archived from the original on 30 November 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2009.
- ^ a b c "Authorities Must Reveal Identities and Whereabouts of People Detained Today". Amnesty International USA. 30 November 2009. Archived from the original on 2 December 2009. Retrieved 1 December 2009.
- ^ Jesse Freeston. "An Election Validated by Blood and Repression" Archived 4 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine. The Real News Network. December 2, 2009.
- ^ Schepers, Emile (30 November 2009). "Honduras election raises questions on turnout, international recognition". People's World. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
- ^ "Debates - Political situation in Honduras with a view to the elections on 29 November 2009 (debate) - Wednesday, 11 November 2009". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
- ^ El Grupo PPE reconoce plena legitimidad a las elecciones de Honduras Archived 2017-12-15 at the Wayback Machine. EPP Group in the European Parliament
- ^ Morrison, James. "Embassy Row". The Washington Times. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
- ^ "Elecciones Honduras: Exclusiva entrevista a "Hagamos Democracia" (+ Audio)". Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
- ^ https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jAkMGKIUDg_ngUiZboxQbYj5_DPwD9CAR1G00 [dead link]
- ^ Exclusive: Honduran elections exposed, retrieved 20 December 2021
- France24. 4 December 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2009. [permanent dead link]
- ^ http://www.yucatan.com.mx/noticia.asp?cx=99$1410000000$4200384&f=20091130 [permanent dead link]
- ^ "Porfirio Lobo Elected President In Honduras". Huffington Post. 30 November 2009.
- ^ "Honduras elects Porfirio Lobo as new president". the Guardian. 30 November 2009. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
- ^ a b c d "Pro-Zelaya organization issues ultimatum for Zelaya's restitution". Xinhua News Agency. 6 November 2009. Archived from the original on 9 November 2009. Retrieved 6 November 2009.
- ^ a b c "Honduras' Most Prominent Human Rights Expert Calls on Obama Administration to Denounce "Grave Human Rights Violations"". Center for Economic and Policy Research. 5 November 2009. Archived from the original on 20 November 2009. Retrieved 6 November 2009.
- ^ Agence France Presse. 2 December 2009. Archived from the originalon 2 December 2009. Retrieved 2 December 2009.
- ^ Carroll, Rory (6 November 2009). "Power-sharing deal in Honduras collapses as Zelaya demands to lead". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 8 November 2009. Retrieved 6 November 2009.
- ^ a b "Renuncian importantes dirigentes del liberalismo". El Tiempo (Honduras). November 2009. Archived from the original on 24 November 2009. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
- ^ Jesse Freeston. "TRNN Exclusive: Honduran elections exposed". The Real News Network. December 6, 2009.
- ^ Jesse Freeston. "Honduras: Elections as Coup Laundering" Archived 4 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine. The Real News Network. November 28, 2009.
- ^ "Breaking News, World News and Video from al Jazeera".
- ^ a b Politics, Stephen Zunes Professor of; Francisco, Coordinator of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San (19 June 2016). "The U.S. Role In The Honduras Coup And Subsequent Violence". HuffPost. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
- ^ a b Sheridan, Mary Beth (1 December 2009). "U.S. and some allies at odds over Honduras presidential election". Retrieved 16 December 2016 – via washingtonpost.com.
- ^ Fang, Lee (6 July 2015). "During Honduras Crisis, Clinton Suggested Back Channel With Lobbyist Lanny Davis". The Intercept. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
- ^ "In Honduras, a Mess Made in the U.S." The New York Times. 27 January 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
- ^ "Israel apoya las elecciones de Honduras" [Israel Supports Honduran Elections]. El Heraldo (Honduras) (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
- ^ Frank, Dana (27 November 2009). "No Fair Election in Honduras under Military Occupation". Common Dreams (Press release). Archived from the original on 28 January 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ "Htw Media". Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2009.
- ^ "Japón respalda proceso electoral de Honduras" [Japan Supports Honduran Election Procedures]. La Prensa (Honduras) (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ "Intenso debate sobre Honduras en la Cumbre Iberoamericana tras las elecciones" [Intense debate on Honduras at the Ibero-American Summit Following Elections] (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 5 December 2009. Retrieved 9 December 2009.
- ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 20 December 2021.