Caribbean & Central America - April 2015 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Continuismo, which led to the 2009 coup d’état ejecting former president Manuel Zelaya (2006-2009), seems to be back. A former president, Rafael Callejas (1990-1994), has submitted a petition to the supreme court (CSJ) seeking to declare inapplicable constitutional Article 239, which prohibits presidential re-election. There is strong suspicion that Callejas is acting as a foil to pave the way for a second term bid by President Juan Orlando Hernández.

Callejas, of the ruling Partido Nacional (PN), filed his request on 11 March, arguing that Article 239 goes against a citizen’s right to be elected and breaches the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights (IAHCR). The president of the PN's executive committee, Gladys Aurora López, signalled support for reform, stating that only three countries in Latin America do not allow re-election (the other two being Mexico and Paraguay) and that, as such, Honduras is being left behind. (It is worth pointing out that Guatemala also does not permit re-election). Notably, in early December last, 15 PN deputies (plus one from the allied Unificación Democratica) also mooted a request to the CSJ to eliminate Article 239.

Article 239 bars anyone who has already held the post of president from seeking the post, or that of vice-president, for a second time. Whoever breaks that provision, or proposes its reform, as well as those who directly or indirectly support that person, must immediately relinquish any public office that they may hold, and are barred from subsequent public office for ten years. As he does not currently hold any public office, Callejas, in theory, cannot be sanctioned. He insists that he wants to run in the PN primaries in 2017, ahead of that year’s November general election. He will be 74 years old by then. Critics suggest that the real motive behind his move is to allow Hernández to run again in 2017. Hernández is popular, having overseen an improvement in the country's parlous security situation, along with a gradual economic recovery, since taking office in January 2014. Formerly congress president, he has been criticised, however, for his autocratic tendencies, most controversially in overseeing the removal of four of the five magistrates on the CSJ's constitutional chamber in December 2013, after they struck down a government police reform. The replacement magistrates are considered broadly sympathetic to the PN.

The CSJ accepted Callejas's submission on 16 March. The court then had to submit a copy to the Public Ministry's special attorney for the defence of the constitution within six working days. The ministry had another six days to deliver a (non-binding) opinion on the matter. On 27 March, the president of the CSJ’s constitutional chamber, Víctor Lozano, denied in a radio interview that the chamber had received a favourable opinion from the public ministry. Lozano suggested that the chamber would not consider the matter until after the Easter holidays. As of mid-April, there was no further news.

Pandora’s Box

A change to permit re-election would allow six other former presidents to run again, including Zelaya and his elected successor Porfirio Lobo (2010‑2014). It is unclear whether Zelaya's interim de facto successor, Roberto Micheletti (2009‑2010), who took office on behalf of Zelaya's then-party, the Partido Liberal (PL), would also be eligible. Carlos Roberto Flores (PL, 1998‑2002) and Ricardo Maduro (PN, 2002‑2006), both now in their late-60s, would also be eligible. As such, both the PL and Zelaya's new leftist party, Libertad y Refundación (Libre), have remained quiet about the PN moves.

To complicate matters, Article 374 of the constitution makes clear that the articles of the constitution relating to the prohibition on presidential re-election may not be amended at all. The prior article (373), meanwhile, assigns congress responsibility for amending the constitution, dependent on a two-thirds majority (see sidebar).

• Congress

If the CSJ were to find Article 239 inapplicable on human rights grounds, congress potentially could then move to strike it. The PN, with 48 of the 128 seats, has managed to keep onside a majority of the PL, which has 27 seats, to give it a working majority. Libre has 37 seats and with the support of allies can muster up a 50-strong opposition bloc.