Honduras presidential election
Time to blog about another election. As an FYI, there are 12 presidential elections scheduled in Latin America over the next 18 months.
The presidential election in Honduras is scheduled for November 27, 2005.
Ricardo Maduro is the current president, and his approval ratings hover around 50%. While Maduro has been tough on crime and gangs, the problems have simply grown worse during his term. In fact, the gang activity in Honduras can almost be considered "terrorism" as gangs have killed civilians and left notes at the site of the massacre intended to intimidate public officials.
Maduro also faces criticism for his handling of the economy and corruption allegations. This makes his approval rating of 50% actually quite impressive. Most politicians being criticized for security, the economy and corruption would be lower than that.
The presidential candidates are Porfirio Lobo Sosa of the president's National Party (PN), the current president of the Congress and Manuel Zelaya, a former government minister from the Liberal Party (PL).
The race is currently a dead heat with both candidates polling between 35 and 40%. Both candidates have an approval rating near 60%. Lots of polling goodness in Spanish here and here from a Gallup poll taken in early June. If you're a poll number junkie, there's lots of cross tabs and information in those two links to keep you busy.
The issues, as they will be for most Latin American elections over the next year, will be security and the economy. On security, Lobo has come out in favor of the death penalty, which may be popular in some sectors of Honduras but has drawn criticism from the Church. Zelaya is also trying to bolster his security credentials, blaming the current government for the rising homicide rate. The fact is, neither candidate has much new to offer over Maduro's policies, but both have to prove they'll be strong on security issues.
On the economy, 50% of people believe their family's economic situation has gotten worse in the last year. 74% believe the cost of living is increasing too rapidly. The economy could turn out to be a more important issue than security as there may be greater differences between the two candidates.
The other noteworthy aspect of this race is that it has turned ugly. Zelaya has accused Lobo of being linked to drug trafficking while Lobo has accused Zelaya of having links to a massacre that occurred in the 1970's. An El Heraldo editorial chastised the two candidates for not focusing on the real issues at stake.
Like Mexico, Honduras will attempt to allow its citizens to vote from the United States. They lack some of the mechanisms to make sure the vote occurs cleanly, but have received some aid from Japan and other foreign donors to help shore up their electoral system.
If you're looking for even more information about the election, I ran across two blogs from Honduras that deal with politics, Honduras y el Mundo and Omar Edgardo Rivera. They should have regular updates over the next few months.
The presidential election in Honduras is scheduled for November 27, 2005.
Ricardo Maduro is the current president, and his approval ratings hover around 50%. While Maduro has been tough on crime and gangs, the problems have simply grown worse during his term. In fact, the gang activity in Honduras can almost be considered "terrorism" as gangs have killed civilians and left notes at the site of the massacre intended to intimidate public officials.
Maduro also faces criticism for his handling of the economy and corruption allegations. This makes his approval rating of 50% actually quite impressive. Most politicians being criticized for security, the economy and corruption would be lower than that.
The presidential candidates are Porfirio Lobo Sosa of the president's National Party (PN), the current president of the Congress and Manuel Zelaya, a former government minister from the Liberal Party (PL).
The race is currently a dead heat with both candidates polling between 35 and 40%. Both candidates have an approval rating near 60%. Lots of polling goodness in Spanish here and here from a Gallup poll taken in early June. If you're a poll number junkie, there's lots of cross tabs and information in those two links to keep you busy.
The issues, as they will be for most Latin American elections over the next year, will be security and the economy. On security, Lobo has come out in favor of the death penalty, which may be popular in some sectors of Honduras but has drawn criticism from the Church. Zelaya is also trying to bolster his security credentials, blaming the current government for the rising homicide rate. The fact is, neither candidate has much new to offer over Maduro's policies, but both have to prove they'll be strong on security issues.
On the economy, 50% of people believe their family's economic situation has gotten worse in the last year. 74% believe the cost of living is increasing too rapidly. The economy could turn out to be a more important issue than security as there may be greater differences between the two candidates.
The other noteworthy aspect of this race is that it has turned ugly. Zelaya has accused Lobo of being linked to drug trafficking while Lobo has accused Zelaya of having links to a massacre that occurred in the 1970's. An El Heraldo editorial chastised the two candidates for not focusing on the real issues at stake.
Like Mexico, Honduras will attempt to allow its citizens to vote from the United States. They lack some of the mechanisms to make sure the vote occurs cleanly, but have received some aid from Japan and other foreign donors to help shore up their electoral system.
If you're looking for even more information about the election, I ran across two blogs from Honduras that deal with politics, Honduras y el Mundo and Omar Edgardo Rivera. They should have regular updates over the next few months.
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