HONDURAN ELECTIONS NEWS: UPDATE 3

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 001949 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/PPC, WHA/USOAS, AND DRL/PHD STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CEN AND DCHA/DG E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM HO SUBJECT: HONDURAN ELECTIONS NEWS: UPDATE 3 REF: (A) Tegucigalpa 1680 (B) Tegucigalpa 1665 TSE Set to Print 12 million ballots SIPDIS -------------- ¶1. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) hired four local companies to print a total of 12 million ballots at a cost of 20 Million Lempiras (USD 1.06 million). (Note: Each voter will have separate presidential, congressional, and municipal ballots. End Note.) The four Honduran companies, Graficentro Editores, Lithopress, Imprenta Bulnes, and Litoprin, printed the ballots for the internal elections held in February. Although the picture format will be the same as the previous ballot, Aristides Mejia, president of the TSE, stated that candidates who did not submit their photographs on time would only have their name on the ballot. According to Mejia, observers from all the parties will be present at the time of printing, to make sure that the process is carried out accurately and transparently. 150 Candidates Resign Before General Elections -------------- - ¶2. For many different reasons, over 150 candidates to varying political positions submitted their resignations to the TSE. They were immediately replaced by their parties. The greatest number of replacements/substitutions occurred in the National Party, 56 in total. The Liberal party had 49 and the remaining 45 belonged to the three small parties. Most reasons were personal; but some were constitutionally disqualified, and in addition, 12 candidates were disqualified due to pending debts with the government. ¶3. Most of the resignations were candidates for municipal positions. Congressional resignations occurred where the candidates did not have a strong probability of winning the general elections, or they preferred to remain in their current GOH positions and were automatically disqualified from running for reelection. (Note: The electoral law requires national candidates to resign from their GOH positions six months prior to the general election. End Note.) There are rumors that vacancies available in the Congressional ballots could be filled with candidates who lost in the internal elections in February. Thus, National Party politicians such as Congressman Oswaldo Ramos Soto and the Mayor of Tegucigalpa, Miguel Pastor, may still be chosen by the party to fill the vacancies. RNP Back on Track for ID card Issuance -------------- ¶4. The National Registry of Persons (RNP) has announced that it is issuing the necessary identification cards for voting in the November elections with a three-day turnaround. The RNP said that by November all requests will have been processed. They estimate that since their technological deficiencies have been corrected, they now have the capacity to produce between 9,000-10,000 ID's daily. Williard