The Atlanta-based Carter Center called on Honduras to “rectify offenses committed against due process” when president Manuel Zelaya was detained and exiled in June, according to a statement today following a visit to the Central American country.
The center, a nonprofit democracy watchdog founded by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, expressed concern that the country’s political crisis could undermine November 29 elections.
Talks to end the Central American country’s four-month crisis failed yesterday on the de facto government’s refusal to restore Zelaya to power.
The Supreme Court ordered Zelaya’s arrest in a sealed indictment in late June after ruling his push to rewrite the constitution was illegal. Soldiers arrested him and sent him to Costa Rica on a plane in his pajamas.
He snuck back into the country more than a month ago and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy, which he’s used as a base to pressure the acting government to restore him.
The acting government closed two opposition media outlets and suspended constitutional rights for three weeks during the electoral campaign as part of a crackdown on protests following Zelaya’s Sept. 21 return.
The United States, European Union and Latin American countries may not recognize Nov. 29 elections if Zelaya isn’t restored first. The United Nations and Organization of American States have threatened to not send observers to monitor the vote.
“The irregular situation Honduras is living could impair electoral rights of competing candidates and voting citizens,” the center said.
Still, backers of the acting government say the candidates for the Nov. 29 elections were already selected in primaries months before the June 28 coup. They seek to avoid handing power back to Zelaya and hope the elections will solve the country’s crisis by turning the government’s reigns over to a democratically-elected third party.
