Venenzuela, November 18: The Honduran congress has said that it will not vote on whether to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya until after the upcoming elections later this month.
Congressional president Jose Alvedro Saavedra said legislators will discuss the matter on December 2, three days after the election for a new president, local HRN radio station said on Tuesday.
Under a US-brokered deal signed last month between Zelaya and interim president Roberto Micheletti, the rival camps agreed on a unity government and Zelaya’s reinstatement.
However, the power-sharing deal collapsed when the Honduran congress refused to vote to restore the left-leaning democratically elected president to power, as a crucial part of the deal.
Zelaya, who has called for a boycott of the November 29 election, has insisted that he will not participate in the vote unless he is reinstated by the congress.
Several regional states have backed his call for the election boycott, saying they will not recognize the outcome of the election unless Zelaya is restored beforehand.
Zelaya was forced into exile after an army-backed coup in June, but managed to slip back to the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa on September 21, taking refuge in the Brazilian embassy.
Micheletti and other Zelaya foes — mainly in the military — staged the coup, saying the Stetson-wearing rancher had overstepped his authority by seeking to change the constitution so he could run for a second term.
As the feuding continued, senior US diplomat Craig Kelly arrived in Tegucigalpa on Tuesday to launch yet another bid to revive the failed
Honduran deal, a spokeswoman for the US embassy confirmed.
It is Kelly’s second trip in less than a week to Honduras, where many believe the coup was backed by the US.
——Agencies