TEGUCIGALPA, (Reuters) – The front-runner in Honduras’ presidential race has become a key to resolving a four-month conflict between a president ousted in a coup and the de facto leader who replaced him.
Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo leads polls ahead of the Nov. 29 election and his National Party is the biggest opposition force in Congress, which must decide whether ousted President Manuel Zelaya can return to serve his last months in office.
With hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid and international recognition of the election contingent on Zelaya’s return, the National Party is under pressure to support him, though its leaders say they are still studying options.
Zelaya, toppled in a June 28 coup, and the de facto leader Roberto Micheletti who replaced him, were pushed by US diplomats to sign a deal last week to put an end to Central America’s worst political turmoil in two decades.
Under the deal, the unicameral Congress is expected to come out of recess to vote on whether Zelaya’s proposed return would be constitutional. The Supreme Court will first issue a non-binding opinion and no date has been set for the vote in Congress.
