Politics

Sunday, November 27, 2005 is Election Day here in Honduras. Presidential elections are being held this year (every four years, president can serve only one term) so there is a lot of excitement and activity. I thought I’d devote this entry to informing you a bit about Honduran politics.

Corruption, corruption, corruption. Why does it seem to be an international trend to have an abundance of corrupt politicians? I’m currently reading political speeches of the Roman orator Cicero (106 – 43 BC), and the corruption back in his day was just as bad (perhaps even worse) as the corruption today. It’s true – “History repeats itself.”

There are two main parties – the National Party (blue) and the Liberal Party (red). The current president, Ricardo Maduro, is of the National Party, and the current candidate favored to win this election, “Pepe”, is also of the National Party (more descriptions of the parties/candidates can be found at the bottom of this entry).

The streets of Tegucigalpa are flooded primarily with blue “Pepe” signs (with an emblem of an iron fist) and National Party flags (blue with a single star in the center). The red “Mel” signs and Liberal Party flags (three horizontal stripes – red, white, red) are also quite common. Occasionally, a green CD (Christian Democrat) flag pops up. I have yet to see a PINU or UD sign or flag.

As far as I can tell, the National Party seems to have the strongest grassroots campaigning. Supporters poster the outside of public buses and hold National Party flags out of the windows while riding inside. Supporters wearing “Pepe” t-shirts stand along the side of the road, waving at passing cars. Brigades of cars decorated in blue and white drive around, throwing candy (packaged in blue, with “Pepe” written boldly) to children, who run after them screaming “Pepe! Pepe!”. Every day, the newspaper shows pictures of Pepe and Mel, standing before a crowd of blue and red, respectively (Pepe’s crowd always seems bigger).

Politicians may be corrupt, but it’s always invigorating to see such energy from the supporters/voters. At least these citizens are getting involved in one way or another. (Though it often gets way out of hand… just last week, a National Party campaign van was attacked, and two people were killed. Most people believe it was gang-related violence. The candidates have many enemies…) Unfortunately, Tegucigalpa is not representative of the rest of Honduras, which is comprised of much smaller cities and villages. Outside of this political (and official) capital, there is considerable less activity – people are too busy barely scraping by to care about politics, or they don’t have the resources available to educate themselves (for example, many can’t read).

Going back to corruption, I’ve copied here a revealing article from www.marrder.com. Especially notice how the parties, for the most part, choose not to define a platform, leaving the citizens uninformed. People here vote pretty blindly, based solely on propaganda or party allegiance. The article briefly mentions the existence of campaign laws, but as with many other laws in Honduras, they are not really enforced.

Also notice how campaign spending is a big issue here, just as it is in the U.S. (remember approx. 18.9 lempiras = 1 U.S. dollar, i.e. the National Party has thus far spent about 58,346,000 lemps = 3,087,090 dollars… this when there are people struggling on less than 700 dollars/year!)



INVESTIGATION INTO CAMPAIGN SPENDING
By Ruth Winkler

National Party - Porfirio Lobo Sosa - 58,346,000
Liberal Party - Manual Zelaya Rosales - 45,290,483
PINU - Carlos Sosa Cuello - 6,594,606
Christian Democrats - Juan Ramon Martinez - 848,066
UD - Juan Almendares Bonilla - 848,066

This Tuesday November 8, the Center of Investigation and Promotion of Human Rights (CIPRODEH) held a press conference to announce the publication of their investigation, entitled “the struggle for electoral legitimacy.” The report examines the electoral process, highlighting the difficulties facing Honduras in achieving a truly democratic and fair election process while there continues to exist discrepancies and inequalities between the political parties.

The report highlights the shortcomings of the political parties in reference to their campaign for presidency and whether they have or have not complied with the electoral law.

Of the five political parties, the report shows that only three have published a full manifesto for government - Carlos Sosa Cuello (PINU), Juan Ramón Martínez (Christian Democratic Party) and Manuel Zelaya Rosales (Liberal Party), with Juan Almendares Bonilla (UD) only publishing a partial manifesto and Porfirio Lobo Sosa (National Party) so far having failed to release any such information. This affects the campaign in as much as it is important in any democracy that policies can be debated and conveyed to the people. Without the release of a party platform Honduran politics will continue to be dominated by the habitual slogans and propaganda of the parties, and the people will remain uninformed of the range of policies available to them as broadcasts and advertising continue to be devoid of any political message.

While it is a step forward in the politics of the nation, the published manifestos still fail in a number of areas, failing to recognize issues of great importance in Honduras today. Topics such as poverty and gender have been almost entirely overlooked by the parties, with only Cuello and Martínez putting in place a scheme to tackle poverty and only Bonilla lightly covering the topic of gender equality.

Never the less, the report uncovers the unequal share of media space and resources available to each party. This means that it is the two main parties (Liberal Party and National Party) who dominate the political scene, leaving the other three parties at a significant disadvantage in being able to convey their message to the people of Honduras. As always, the investigation shows that money is the most important issue for gaining access to the media and being able to campaign effectively, and the three minority parties simply do not have the funds available to them to be able to compete on an equal level with the dominant two, thus undermining the democratic process.

The report shows the vast amounts of money spent in the campaign by each candidate, in contrast to the wealth of the people of Honduras, where 71 per cent of the population live in poverty. It also details the vast discrepancy in the amount spent by the National and Liberal Parties in contrast to the three other Parties (PINU, UD and Christian Democrats) through their monitoring of the four national radio stations, four national daily papers and four national television stations.

The report states that a major factor in the legitimacy of Honduran politics being questioned is the high cost of the political campaigns, especially those of the two main parties, who have traditionally been allowed more access to state institutions. This is not only because of the large amount of money being spent in such a poor country, but because the parties do not disclose their means of earning money, leaving themselves open to allegations of corruption.

In respect to complying with the electoral law, the report demonstrates a number of discrepancies, again with the National and Liberal Parties being reflected in a poor light. Only two parties have complied with the quota of having 30 per cent of candidates in the popular election being women, the UD with almost 50 per cent female, and the Christian Democrats.

Also, the investigation finds that the National and Liberal Parties began their campaigning before the official date, thus disregarding the law. What is more, they both also placed advertisements for their parties in prohibited sites.

The report concludes that the candidates who have offered the most complete proposal for government to the electorate are Carlos Sosa Cuello, Manuel Zelaya and Juan Ramón Martínez. In regard to the type of campaign pursued by the five Parties, Carlos Sosa Cuello, Juan Ramón Martínez and Juan Almendares Bonilla are rated as having been the least propagandist and reliant upon the media. The investigation states that these are the same candidates who have respected the new laws for the electoral process. In all, it is demonstrated that it is Porfirio Lobo Sosa (National Party) who has been the least compliant, followed by Manuel Zelaya Rosales (Liberal Party) – the two leaders of the dominant political parties.


-- end article --

[If you want to read more about Honduran political problems, here’s the link to another article you can check out: http://hondurasnews.com/2005/10/26/election-analysis/]

Brief descriptions of the parties/candidates, from “Party platforms examined as election near” by Ruth Winkler and Siobhan Mooney, www. marrder.com:

PARTY NAME: PARTIDO NACIONAL DE HONDURAS (NATIONAL PARTY OF HONDURAS)
LEADER: PORFIRIO LOBO SOSA

Pepe Lobo Sosa, presidential candidate for the National Party, summarizes his political platform with the sharp symbolism of the iron fist. Crime in Honduras, social instability and violence are major concerns for voters. Sosa has made security and the war against crime the base of his campaign. The National Party platform strongly supports the death penalty and takes a hard line on anti-crime measures. Sosa is closely aligned with the current President, Ricardo Maduro, who won 52.2 percent of the people's votes in the last election, using the same promises of reducing crime in Honduras [. . . ]

Sosa’s slogan for the campaign is 'trabajo y seguridad' (work and security), a socially-minded campaign promising an answer to Honduras’ unemployment and violent crime. The social instability instigated by crime and lack of a reliable fiscal policy are of major concerns to the voters. Fixing the housing shortage is another local concern which Sosa promises to fix if elected president in the forthcoming elections.

PARTY NAME: PARTIDO LIBERAL DE HONDURAS (LIBERAL PARTY OF HONDURAS)
LEADER: MANUEL ZELAYA ROSALES

Manuel 'Mel' Zelaya, the Liberal Party’s candidate for president, [ . . . ] attended the National Honduran University but did not graduate. Now a landowner, he claims to understand the problems facing the rural majority, because of his countryside origins.

This empathy for the people is highlighted in his campaign slogan "poder ciudano" (power to the people). Under this broad campaign banner Zelaya has promised to heal the social, education, and welfare problems faced by the Honduran population.

Some of these promises include improving education with 100,000 scholarships and creating 100,000 more rural jobs. Mel also has pledged to reinvigorate small and medium sized businesses.

The party strongly opposes the introduction of the death penalty, a policy the National Party is passionately endorsing, on the basis that it is "unchristian" and a "fascist campaign of violence". Recently a spokesman for Zelaya said that the "backbone of the government of Manuel Zelaya will be to provide better housing and living standards to the people in rural areas."

PARTY NAME: PARTIDO DEMÓCRATA CRISTIANA DE HONDURAS (CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF HONDURAS)
LEADER: JUAN RAMÓN MARTÍNEZ

Juan Ramón Martínez, the first person of African-descent to run for president in Honduras [ . . . ] founded the Christian Democratic Party of Honduras (PDCH) in 1975, the party evolving from a branch of the Roman Catholic Church concerned with developing community organisations, such as workers unions and student groups. Despite its founding date, the party was not officially recognised until 1980 and thus competed in its first national elections in 1981, winning just one seat. The PDCH has maintained its links with the peasant groups of Honduras, claiming to represent the ordinary Honduran, and, during the 1980s, was reportedly thought of as being the conscience of the Honduran National Congress.

The party’s platform for the forthcoming election proposes legislative, economic and social reform - their ultimate goal being the creation of a decentralised power base giving Hondurans from all areas and backgrounds a greater level of participation in the political process.

The greatest change to the political system which Martínez proposes is the creation of a Senate, elected by the people, with the intended result being a more modern and representative system, bringing Honduras to the same level of prosperity as Guatemala, El Salvador, and Costa Rica.

He also wishes to change the way in which the National Congress operates and see the judicial process become more transparent and trusted by the people. He plans to offer greater protection to women and children tin the courts, with men committing crimes against women receiving three times the standard sentence.

The social aims of Martínez are to reinforce the traditional values and morals of the Catholic Church through an increased level of education and the co-operation of the family unit. He also wishes to protect the indigenous communities of Honduras by defending land rights, customs and minority languages.

In economic terms Martínez plans to increase private investment in the country, encourage medium and large businesses to come to Honduras, create jobs and allow for 100 per cent access to social security benefits throughout the population.


PARTY NAME: PARTIDO DE INOVACIÓN Y UNIDAD-SOCIAL DEMOCRACIA (PARTY FOR INNOVATION AND UNITY-SOCIAL DEMOCRACY)
LEADER: CARLOS SOSA CUELLO

The PINU gains much of its small support from the middle class workers in the urban centers of Honduras. Although first setup in 1970, it did not gain full recognition until 1980 when it took part in the constituent elections of that year, winning three seats. In 1988 PINU became connected with Social Democratic International.

The party’s leader, Carlos Sosa Cuello, holds the Honduran citizens as being the vital component in achieving the development of the country. He plans to focus social reforms towards the most underprivaledged members of society, this includes giving more equality to women in Honduran society.

The basis for Cuello's manifesto is having respect for the law and transparency in its actions. In the past, Honduran politics and politicians have been accused of being blighted by corruption and deceitful towards the electorate. These are actions which Cuello is quick to point out have been reported by his party to the relevent authorities. He promises to respect the Honduran constitution and handle public goods honestly when developing the economy.

Cuello envisages a social security state which will allow every Honduran access to basic health care, as is their right, so as to combat the avoidable health problems of the nation. As well as improving the health of the citizens, Cuello promises to improve the education level of the population, developing the skills of the future workforce and giving them the will to improve themselves through a greater focus towards vocational education.

The PINU also point towards developing the natural resources of the country and developing renuable energy sources, as well as combating the problem of drug trafficking through the countries borders.

In the last election, held in 2001, the PINU won 1.5 per cent of the vote in the presidential election, with their candidate Olban Francisco Valladares Ordóñez. They captured four seats in congress with 4.6 per cent of the popular vote.

PARTY NAME: PARTIDO UNIFICACION DEMOCRATICA (DEMOCRATIC UNIFICATION PARTY)
LEADER: JUAN ALMENDÁREZ BONILLA

The Democratic Unification Party (PUD) is an emergent party in Honduran politics. Four leftist clandestine and semi-clandestine political parties merged and the party was founded on September 29, 1992. It was first legally recognized in October 1993, however their first participation in Honduran elections was not until 1997.

The party describes itself as "a patriotic, democratic, popular, revolutionary party." PUD claims to base its platform on five key ideals: ethics, democracy, criticism, proposal and struggle.

The party candidate, Juan Almendárez Bonilla, and his party are against capital punishment, as supported by the National Party of Honduras. The party is also opposed to the Honduran susceptibility to northern influence, a problem that many Hondurans are concerned with. In an article published in La Tribuna Bonilla says "I could not sign an agreement when capital punishment is being promoted, because I am against that, I could not sign an agreement when these two traditional parties have supported in the Congress the approval of laws, which favor the international corporations and favor the enterprise Mafias".

In the same article Bonilla outlines the party platform and vision for the country. They hope to solve issues of housing, security and corruption. "We in the UD have an integral vision, it is not possible to be spoken of as a popular and worthy house, if in this country mining laws are being approved that destroy the territories and houses of farmers."

In the 2001 presidential elections the party won 1.11 per cent of the population's votes. They managed to capture five seats in congress with 4.5 per cent of the popular vote.