Honduras » Politics

Honduras has five registered political parties: PNH, PLH, Social Democrats (Partido Innovación Nacional y Social Demócrata: PINU-SD), Social Christians (Partido Demócrata-Cristiano: DC), and Democrat Unification (Partido Unificación Democrática: UD). The PNH and PLH have ruled the country for decades. In the last years, Honduras has had five Liberal presidents: Roberto Suazo Córdova, José Azcona del Hoyo, Carlos Roberto Reina, Carlos Roberto Flores and Manuel Zelaya, and two Nationalists: Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero and Ricardo Maduro.

In 1986, there were five Liberal candidates and four Nationalists running for president. Because no one candidate obtained a clear majority, the known as "Formula B" was raised and Azcona del Hoyo became president. In 1990, Callejas won the election under the slogan "Llegó el momento del Cambio," ("The time for change has arrived"), which was heavily criticised for resembling El Salvador's "ARENAs" political campaign. It was during Flores Facusse's mandate that Hurricane Mitch hit the country and decades of economic growth were destroyed in less than a week.

The previous Presidential elections took place on 27 November 2005, marking 25 years of democracy in Honduras. The Liberal Party candidate Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales (known as Mel Zelaya), was confirmed as President-elect on 7 December when the Honduran National Party candidate Porfirio Lobo Sosa (known as Pepe Lobo) conceded defeat. Lobo's concession came with around 10% of the votes still to be counted. The declaration ended several days of ambiguity while votes were counted at 5000 voting centres across the Country's 18 departments. Zelaya was officially placed in position on 27 January 2006 to serve a four-year term.