Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0159/01592.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 44KB | 661 lines

$Unique_ID{COW01592}
$Pretitle{351}
$Title{Honduras
Chapter 4D.   Elections and Voting}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{James A. Morris}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{national
government
political
elections
military
plh
honduran
congress
pnh
suazo}
$Date{1983}
$Log{Figure 10.*0159201.scf
}
Country:     Honduras
Book:        Honduras, A Country Study
Author:      James A. Morris
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1983

Chapter 4D.   Elections and Voting

     The organization and conduct of Honduran elections were entrusted to a
National Election Tribunal. Similar election boards were established at
departmental and municipal levels; an electoral precinct was mandated for
every 300 voters. The National Election Tribunal was composed of one
representative from each legally registered political party, plus one member
nominated by the Supreme Court of Justice. The tribunal, created under the
1981 election law, was charged with registering all eligible citizens over 18
years of age. Voting was obligatory, although active military were prohibited
from participating in the electoral process. Women gained equal political
rights under the administration of Lozano Diaz and voted in national elections
for the first time in 1956. Men and women, however, continue to vote in
separate polling stations.

     Decree-Law No. 150, passed by the National Congress in late 1982,
established the National Register of Persons as a dependency of the National
Election Tribunal. The national register has three functions-to create a civil
register recording births, deaths, marriages, naturalizations, and associated
vital statistics; to issue valid national identity cards to all citizens and
resident aliens; and to compile and maintain a national electoral register or
national electoral census. The National Election Tribunal and National
Register of Persons were to guarantee purity of the electoral process. Key to
this was an accurate and updated national electoral census. In the past, voter
registration occurred only at the municipal level. Documentation was
previously more difficult because of missing data on births or place of
residence. In addition, opportunities for manipulation of the voter lists were
prevalent under the old system. Once the national register is able to issue
national identification cards, citizens should be able to register easily as
voters. The national register was to revise the electoral census of 1978-79
and that of 1980-81, but in 1983, as municipal elections neared, the four
legally registered parties (PLH, PNH, PDCH, and PINU) agreed to postpone the
local elections until the National Register of Persons could accomplish its
initial task of establishing a new list of registered voters.

     The PLH majority in Congress later approved changes in the law governing
the National Register of Persons that were suspected by the three other
parties of turning the national register into a partisan political instrument
to benefit the PLH. For one, the director and deputy director of the national
register would rotate annually among the parties, beginning with the PLH.
Other "adjustments" left only the central and local councils in place, and
their composition would be proportional according to the most recent
elections. After prolonged and often heated debate, a compromise was worked
out in August 1983 whereby the four top positions within the national register
would be rotated annually among the four parties, and positions within the
local councils would be divided equally among the four parties rather than
according to election results.

     The National Election Tribunal also regulated the registration process
for political parties. In order to participate in elections and sponsor
candidates, a party must be legally recognized or have received its personeria
juridica (legal recognition). The process is complex and was complicated by
political overtones because the PLH and PNH, although accustomed to each other
as political rivals, were reluctant to share political power. A difficult
registration procedure confronted any political movement, and even then it did
not guarantee legal recognition. For example, the PINU was first organized in
1970. Soon after, it submitted its application to the National Election
Tribunal, but the new party organization withdrew its solicitation after
several delays and challenges from the PNH. Furthermore, the PDCH was denied
legal status until 1980-10 years after its initial organization as a political
movement.

     A party that seeks legal recognition must acquire notarized documentation
and file a statement of principles, party statutes, and programs. It then must
show proof of having organizations in one-half the 281 municipios and
one-half of the 18 departments. Finally, its petition to the National Election
Tribunal must have valid signatures from at least 10,000 registered voters.
But the process is fraught with difficulties. To register, voters must have
the appropriate documents. Many citizens have commitments and/or loyalties to
either the PLH or the PNH; and the municipios, electoral registration
procedures, and the election boards have all been controlled by the
traditional political parties. In some cases, the tribunal merely has
refused to act. In others, some of the necessary documentation is declared
invalid. The National Register of Persons, by clarifying citizen documentation
and voter registration, should alleviate much of the uncertainty and political
intrigue that has surrounded both voting and the inscription of new political
parties. Regardless, the granting of personeria juridica, whether for a civic
group, labor union, colegio, or political party, will remain influenced by
political considerations and the perspectives of contemporary political power
holders.

     Electoral procedures and their results generally have been observed
cynically or not at all for much of Honduran history. Fraudulent
administration of the polling often precipitated battles among jealous
political leaders. Even after Carias had imposed his brand of order and
stability during the 1930s and 1940s, armed revolts were still launched
against the government. National elections and municipal elections were
characterized by control over voter registration lists and the polling booths
on election day, ballot box stuffing, and the use of physical intimidation.
Both the National and Liberal parties have employed corrupt political
practices, and each has complained of unconscionable fraud and manipulation
on the part of the other. In many instances the accusations have had
merit-to such an extent that Hondurans have referred to elections as estilo
hondureno (Honduran style).

     Elections have been held frequently, however, normally every four or six
years at the national level with interim elections for local governments.
After the retirement of Carias in 1949 until 1983, Hondurans went to the polls
seven times, in most cases to choose delegates for constituent assemblies.
In 1954 Ramon Villeda Morales failed to attract an absolute majority of the
voters, and the election of the president was thrown into the stymied National
Congress. The result was two years of increasingly autocratic government under
Vice President Lozano Diaz, who declared himself president. Constituent
assembly elections (1956) under Lozano's manipulation and his National Unity
Party coalition were a charade; even the aging Carias refused to participate.
Fraud was demonstrably evident when it was declared that the coalition had
won all 56 seats in the prospective assembly. Scarcely two weeks later the
armed forces canceled the elections, promising new elections within a year
and a "return to a regime of order, tranquillity, and law" (see Aborted
Reform, 1954-63, ch. 1).

     The five national elections of 1957, 1965, 1971, 1980, and 1981 were
conducted under differing conditions. Interestingly, however, all were held
under the auspices of military governors. The constituent assembly e