Hondurans Demand Approval of New Electoral Law

On Tuesday, Honduran activists urged Congress to speed the approval of the New Electoral Justice bill ahead to the Nov. 28 general elections, in which a new president, 128 senators, and 298 municipal mayors will be elected.

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"To strengthen democracy and prevent conflicts that could provoke electoral violence, the Congress must give the Electoral Justice Tribunal the legal tools to develop elections," they insisted.

According to this bill, the National party, Liberal party, and the Freedom and Refoundation party will occupy the most important positions in the National Electoral Council (CNE) since they obtained the largest number of votes in the latest presidential elections.

The Ambassador of the European Union (EU) Jaume Segura recalled that his organization supported Honduras to "strengthen its capacity" in electoral matters through a new identification document and an "effective" national electoral census.

He also noted that the EU is working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to strengthen the capacity of the NEC and the Clean Policy Unit, which is responsible for limiting campaign spending and banning anonymous donations in electoral processes

Honduras has been going through a political and economic crisis since the 2009 coup d'état against President Manuel Zelaya (2006-2009), who promoted a consultation for constitutional reforms.

A new crisis occurred with the re-election of the current president Juan Orlando Hernandez in 2017 given that the Constitution did not allow this maneuver under any modality.