MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

All Honduran parties are calling on Hondurans to vote next Sunday

César Ham has adopted a more pragmatic attitude than his mentor ousted President Manuel Zelaya

Honduran presidential candidates wrapped up their electoral campaigns on Sunday with massive rallies calling on followers and “all Hondurans” to vote next November 29th when a new president, congress, and municipal officials will be elected.

The electoral campaign has evolved with intensity is spite of calls from ousted president Manuel Zelaya to boycott them and promises that with support from the international community, they will not be considered legitimate and therefore not recognized.

The candidate from the ruling Liberal Party, Elvin Santos held his closing rally in the capital Tegucigalpa although over the weekend tens of smaller rallies took place all over the country.

Santos was supported at the rally by a former Honduran president and several presidential hopefuls thus erasing any doubts about the unity of the party since both Mr. Zelaya, who was ousted last June 28th and caretaker president Roberto Micheletti belong to the same Liberal Party.

Zelaya was voted on the conservative Liberal ticket but once in government turned increasingly populist and regionally aligned with Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez.

Together with a few of his followers Zelaya is calling to boycott the election but the majority of his new grouping Democratic Unification of Honduras voted to participate in the elections.

Santos called on fellow Honduras to vote and “defend Honduras”.

Meantime in the north of the country in the city of San Pedro de Sula, National Party candidate Porfirio Lobo Sosa also held a huge concentration according to the local press, and is planning his final rally Monday in Tegucigalpa. The National party is even more conservative than the Liberal party.

According to the latest opinion polls Lobo Sosa is leading with 36% of vote intention followed by Santos with 21%. These two political forces have traditionally concentrated most of the Honduran electorate.

Smaller parties includes Cesar Ham from Democratic Unification who in spite of their leader Zelaya, holed in at the Brazilian embassy, decided to compete; Felícito Arias from the Christian Democrats and Afro-Honduran Bernard Martinez from Innovation and Unity.

“The party’s assembly decided, following a long and intense debate, to participate in the coming election so the people can have representation and defend their rights in Congress and at municipal level”, said Ham.

He added: “we must try to conquer all political spaces possible”. He also anticipated that the National Resistance Front jointly organized with Zelaya, to boycott elections, “must respect the decision of Democratic Unification to participate in the elections”.

“We continue to demand the reinstatement of President Zelaya and a Constitutional assembly and on December 3 will vote in Congress for his return to office and full institutional legitimacy”, said Ham.

He said public opinion polls suggest DU has a support of 15% which means a “significant representation” for the party, and more members in the 128-bench Congress “that the five we now have”.

Beginning Tuesday all political activity and electoral campaigning in Honduras is banned.

A total of 4.7 million Hondurans are entitled to vote next Sunday. They will be electing president; three vice-presidents; the 128 members of the one chamber Parliament; 298 municipal governments and councillors and 20 representatives for the Central America Parliament.