His decisions are so sovereign that can turn the country into a monarchy or a parliamentary system.
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
President Zelaya’s initiative to repeal the Constitution through the National Constituent Assembly has faced its first obstacle.
Professional of law, Roberto Carlos Guzman, brought in the final hours before the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) an appeal against the decree PCM-05-2009 which was issued by the Executive to consult the people, through the National Statistics Institute (INE), if it agrees to implement the fourth ballot box in the presidential elections in November. In it would be consulted to the people the possibility of a Constituent Assembly.
The appeal to the CSJ proposed to suspend the validity of the decree because the INE is not entitled to conduct such surveys in the population.
“There is a law and a regulation setting out the INE and due to its specific functions we can’t turn it into an electoral body” said Guzman. In a period of three days, the Supreme Court must answer whether to admit or not that appeal brought by Guzman.
Rejection
The president’s initiative has led to rejection in different sectors, which are asking the government to tackle the problems faced by the nation.
One of such sectors in which the ruler’s proposal has not found echo is in his own party.
For political analysts as liberal Enrique Ortez Colindres, “The president is insulting the intelligence of those of us who have burned their eyelashes studying law.”
“I’ve been saying that Zelaya wants to continue in power and together with his close associates are looking for all kinds of subterfuges to make a Constituent Assembly with the stated purpose of drafting a new constitution,” said Ortez Colindres.
The liberal politician argues that a Constituent Assembly is a sovereign power which can do everything, politically speaking, and then, this power could suspend the elections, change the form of the State, and instead of a presidential regime, monarchy can be created.
According to Ortez Colindres, in the government “there are people who believe that humans are like children who sleepwalk and can easily be led by sweet or discordant voices.”
For his part, the ex-president of Congress, Rafael Pineda Ponce, said that to his understanding the actions of the government and of President Zelaya, of promoting a Constituent Assembly, “are still unnecessary and harmful to the peace and harmony of our country an their call for a National Constituent Assembly remains illegal.”
Pineda Ponce brought up the 323 constitutional article saying it does not grant the president or other public officer to decide actions related to the electoral political issue.
The law says that public officers are custodians of authority, and never put above it, that they can not perform more acts other than those expressly granted by law and that any act outside the law is null and also carries responsibility.
Pineda Ponce said that the Constitution is clear and says that it can be reformed by a regular Congress, with the exception of stony articles.
Perpetuation of power
Secretary of the National Party of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, thinks the first thing a Constituent Assembly would do is to lengthen the period of government of President Zelaya.
He regretted the attitude of the ruler because, he said “while our people are murdered in the streets and many families have no job, the people in government want to continue in power.
How is it possible that instead of providing solutions to these two major problems of our people, lack of public safety and damaged household economy, those who were elected to govern are generating new crises and are only interested in staying in a position the people has said is only for four years.”
Taken from El Heraldo.