Calls for Zelaya's return
The elections in Honduras are over and the National Party's Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo was victorious, securing over 55% of the vote. However, several questions remain after the culmination of the country's widely disputed elections. Not only is the Western Hemisphere split on whether to recognize the elections, but the official voter turnout numbers are also in question, with numbers from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) reaching over 60% and the nongovernmental observer group, Hagamos Democracia, tallying voter turnout closer to 47%. As Daniel Altschuler points out on the Americas Quarterly blog, this discrepancy "raises questions about the electoral tribunal's announcement. In particular, there is concern about the TSE's incentive to inflate voter turnout rates to raise the perceived legitimacy of the elections." RNS, on the Honduras Coup 2009 blog, noted this morning that the TSE turnout numbers are dropping as more votes are counted. This suggests that while turnout in the municipalities surrounding Tegucigalpa was high, the rest of the country did not turn out to vote in such high numbers.
Despite the region's lack of consensus on the legitimacy of Sunday's elections in Honduras, leaders meeting in Portugal at the 2009 Iberoamerican Summit released a joint statement condemning the coup d'etat in Honduras and calling for the reinstatement of Manuel Zelaya to carry out his constitutional term as president. The Honduran Congress is set to convene tomorrow to vote on Zelaya's return, and it appears that the region's leaders, whether they recognize the elections or not, find this to be the next step in returning democratic order to Honduras.
The statement (download PDF) released by the presidency of the Iberoamerican Summit reads:
The Iberoamerican heads of state condemn the coup d'etat in Honduras and consider the grave human rights and basic freedom violations unacceptable. In this context, they consider that the restitution of President Jose Manuel Zelaya to complete the term to which he was democratically elected ... is a fundamental step toward the return of constitutional normalcy.
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The Iberoamerican heads of state will continue to actively contribute to the search for a solution that allows for a widespread national dialogue in Honduras and the return of a democratic regime to the Honduran people.
The Iberoamerican heads of state declare their firm commitment to the democratic principles of all of the Ibero-American countries to prevent any attempts to destabilize legitimately elected governments.
The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Arturo Valenzuela, also noted during a briefing yesterday that the election in Honduras was "only a step" toward the return of democratic order. Assistant Secretary Valenzuela said that the remaining steps included those found in the Tegucigalpa-San José Accord: the formation of a government of national unity, a congressional vote on the return of President Zelaya to office, and the formation and structuring of a truth commission (this step was included in the original San José Accords).
"[L]et me stress the most important point, and that is that while the election is a significant step in Honduras's return to the democratic and constitutional order after the 28 June coup, it's just that; it's only a step. It's – and it's not the last step. Given the gravity of the coup d'état and the polarization that Honduras has undergone, both before and after the coup d'état, it's extremely important that Honduran leadership moving forward in the next few months attempt to follow the overall broad frameworks of the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord.
And by that, I mean that - what are the additional steps that need to be taken? A government of national unity needs to be formed. The congress has to take a vote on the return of President Zelaya to office. And another element of the San Jose Accords that I think would be very, very important as Honduras moves forward to try to reestablish the democratic and constitutional order is the formation and the structuring of a truth commission, which was also contemplated in the original Tegucigalpa framework and San Jose Accords."