National Congress of Honduras
National Congress of Honduras | |
---|---|
Type | |
Type | |
Leadership | |
Structure | |
Seats | 128 |
Political groups |
Government (55) Crossbench (33)
Opposition (40)
|
Elections | |
Open list proportional representation | |
Last election | 24 November 2013 |
Meeting place | |
Tegucigalpa | |
Website | |
www |
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Honduras |
Legislative |
Judiciary |
|
Foreign relations |
The National Congress (Spanish: Congreso Nacional) is the legislative branch of the government of Honduras.
Organisation
The Honduran Congress is a unicameral legislature. The nominal President of the National Congress of Honduras is currently Mauricio Oliva. Its members are 128 deputies, who are elected on a proportional representation basis, by department, to serve four-year terms.
Meeting place
Congress meets in a purpose-built legislative palace (Palacio Legislativo) in the centre of Tegucigalpa. Of a modernist design, it is painted in an array of bright colours and rests on a series of concrete pillars that separate it from the ground.
Coordinates: 14°06′14″N 87°12′18″W / 14.10375°N 87.20495°W
Directive
2014-2018 legislative period
The current directive of the National Congress is:[1]
- Mauricio Oliva (President) (PNH)
- Gladys Aurora López (1st Vice-President) (PNH)
- Lena Gutiérrez Arévalo (2nd Vice-President) (PNH)
- Antonio Rivera Callejas (3rd Vice-President) (PNH)
- Milton de Jesús Puerto (4th Vice-President) (PNH)
- Miguel Edgardo Martínez (5th Vice-President) (PNH)
- Augusto Cruz Ascensio (6th Vice-President) (DC)
- Edwin Roberto Pavón (7th Vice-President (UD)
- Rolando Dubón Bueso (Alternate Vice-President) (PNH)
- Ramón Antonio Leva Bulnes (Alternate Vice-President) (PNH)
- Jose Vicente de León Rojas (Alternate Vice-President) (PNH)
- Mario Alonso Perez (1st Secretary) (PNH)
- Román Villeda Aguilar (2nd Secretary) (PNH)
- José María Martínez (Alternate Secretary) (PNH)
- Wilmer Neal Velásquez (Alternate Secretary) (PNH)
- José Tomás Zambrano (1st Pro-Secretary) (PNH)
- Sara Ismena Medina Galo (2nd Pro-Secretary) (PNH)
2010-2014 legislative period
The directive of the National Congress for the period 2010-2014 is:[2]
- Juan Orlando Hernández (President) (PNH)
- Lena Gutiérrez Arévalo (1st Vice-President) (PNH)
- Marlon Lara (2nd Vice-President) (PLH)
- Ramón Velásquez Názar (3rd Vice-President) (DC)
- Marvin Ponce (4th Vice-President) (PUD)
- Martha Concepción Guevara (5th Vice-President)(PNH)
- Nora de Melgar (6th Vice-President) (PNH)
- Rigoberto Chang Castillo (1st Secretary) (PNH)
- Gladis Aurora López (2nd Secretary) (PNH)
- Eliseo Noel Mejía (Pro-Secretary) (PNH)
- Yariel Waldina Paz (Pro-Secretary] (PLH)
- Óscar Orlando Burgos (Alternate Vice-President) (PNH)
- Victoria Carrasco García (Alternate Vice-President) (PNH)
- Ángel Banegas (Alternate Secretary) (PLH)
- Milton de Jesús Puerto (Alternate Secretary) (PNH)
Elections
The most recent election was held November 2013. Previous elections were held in 2009, 2005 and 2001.
2013 Legislative Elections
Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
---|---|---|---|---|
National Party | 9,255,904 | 33.64 | 48 | –23 |
Liberty and Refoundation | 7,568,392 | 27.51 | 37 | New |
Liberal Party | 4,670,157 | 16.97 | 27 | –18 |
Anti-Corruption Party | 4,169,245 | 15.15 | 13 | New |
Innovation and Unity Party | 507,958 | 1.85 | 1 | –2 |
Democratic Unification Party | 460,814 | 1.67 | 1 | –3 |
Christian Democratic Party | 444,734 | 1.62 | 1 | –4 |
Patriotic Alliance | 272,398 | 0.99 | 0 | New |
FAPER–Democratic Unification Party | 128,488 | 0.47 | 0 | – |
Independent Socialist candidates | 20,429 | 0.07 | 0 | – |
FAPER | 9,011 | 0.03 | 0 | New |
United for Choluteca | 8,542 | 0.03 | 0 | – |
Total | 27,516,072 | 100 | 128 | 0 |
Valid votes | 2,699,544 | 85.98 | ||
Invalid votes | 155,060 | 4.94 | ||
Blank votes | 285,088 | 9.08 | ||
Total votes | 3,139,692 | 100 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 5,308,781 | 59.14 | ||
[3] |
Changes in Political Groups
Some of the opposition parties, particularly the Liberal, LIBRE and PAC have faced internal division. This division had more impact on LIBRE, which led to the dismissal and the resignation of some of their congressional partisans. During the first week of session in 2014, Congressman Eduardo Cotto was expelled from LIBRE for voting in favor of the National/DC/PUD directive integration, which was also supported by the Liberals.[4] On the following months, Cotto joined the DC.[5]
On February 21, 2015, Congresswoman Tatiana Canales announced her incorporation to the Liberal Party, after failed negotiations with PAC.[6] Nonetheless, 3 days later, the authorities of LIBRE decided to expel her (even though she had already resigned) and three other congressmen after they voted against an electoral reform that was introduced to Congress by the former President and current party leader of LIBRE, Manuel Zelaya Rosales. Together, the three expelled congressmen and Canales formed an independent bloc headed by Congresswoman Jenny Murillo.[7]
On April 9, 2015 the National Congress of Honduras processed the resignations of Congressman Hector Enrique Padilla from LIBRE and Substitute Congresswoman Claudia Patricia Molina from the Liberal Party. Since Molina is a substitute congresswoman, this change does not affect the number of members of the Liberal caucus, nonetheless Padilla's resignation reduced the number of LIBRE congressmen to 32. Later on, Padilla joined the independent group formed by former members of LIBRE[8]
The total number of members of the LIBRE caucus was reduced to 31 after Atlántida congresswoman, Audelia Rodriguez resigned from that party and joined the independent group on May 5, 2015. Rodriguez stated that the lack of direction in LIBRE has led to the impossibility of giving response to the people that elected her, but later she joined to the Christian Democratic Party[9] The Deputy of the independent group Hector Padilla has joined to the Christian Democratic Group, and with the new deputy now they have 3 deputies in the group. In the later months the congresswoman Audelia Rodriguez has joined to the Christian Democratic Party now counting with 4 deputies [10][11]
Also in February 2016, LIBRE has expelled the deputies Esdras Amado López and Dennis Antonio Sánchez of Francisco Morazán and Santa Bárbara respectively, based on the reason that they have voted in favour of a new Supreme Court of Justice.[12][13] Since 4 of PAC's congressmen did not make their vote public during the Supreme Court election, Salvador Nasralla accused them of being now congressmen of the National Party, nonetheless, they have not been formally expelled of the party.[14]
But later, on March 18, the leaders of PAC finally decided to "temporarily suspend" the membership of the 4 of the deputies that participated in the election of a new Supreme Court of Justice. The 4 suspended congressmen are Ana Joselina Fortín, Marlene Alvarenga, Kritza Perez and Oscar Palacios.[15][16]
On April 2016, the deputy of the independent group Tatiana Canales, finally has decided to return to the Liberal Party of Honduras, with the reason that they have expressed differences with Libre, and its return means that the Liberal caucus has officially 28 deputies. Also on the half of May 2016, the deputy of the independent group Omar Rodríguez has decided to return to the Liberal Party now with 29 deputies on the caucus. On the final days of the month of May the deputy Dennis Antonio Sánchez has decided to return to the Liberal Party now with 30 deputies on their caucus,now the party is the second largest political group in the congress.[17][18][19]
On July 2016, the deputy of the independent group Yenny Murillo has decided to return to the National Party of Honduras, with the reason that she is feeling changes in the form of life in Honduras, also had sayed that she is in favour of the reelection but with a regulation that will be established on the Constitution of the Republic, to limit how many times a president can be reelected.[20][21]
Also in the final week of September 2016, the deputy of the independent group Kritza Pérez has decided finally to be a member of the Liberal Party of Honduras based on the reason that in his first party PAC, they don´t allow the pluralism of ideas and discrimination against women that they have announced several times on the national media.[22]
On the first days of November 2016, the deputy of the independent group Ana Joselina Fortín has decided to join to the National Party of Honduras based on the reason that she wants the reelection of the current president and to establish limits on how many times a president can be reelected. [23]
Parties | Seats |
---|---|
National Party of Honduras (Partido Nacional de Honduras) | 71 |
Liberal Party of Honduras (Partido Liberal de Honduras) | 45 |
Christian Democratic Party of Honduras (Partido Demócrata Cristiano de Honduras) | 5 |
Democratic Unification Party (Partido de Unificación Democrática) | 4 |
Innovation and Unity Party (Partido Innovación y Unidad) | 3 |
Total votes: 2,300,056 (2,146,012 valid votes) (turnout 51.04 %) | 128 |
Registered voters: 4,600,000 approx. | |
Sources: TSE, El Heraldo |
Parties | Seats |
---|---|
Liberal Party of Honduras (Partido Liberal de Honduras) | 62 |
National Party of Honduras (Partido Nacional de Honduras) | 55 |
Democratic Unification Party (Partido de Unificación Democrática) | 5 |
Christian Democratic Party of Honduras (Partido Demócrata Cristiano de Honduras) | 4 |
Innovation and Unity Party (Partido Innovación y Unidad) | 2 |
Total votes: 1,833,710 (turnout 45.97 %) | 128 |
Registered voters: 3,988,605 | |
Source regarding number of votes IPU Parline |
The previous election was held on 25 November 2001. Following that election (which saw Ricardo Maduro elected president), party strengths in Congress stood as follows:
Parties | Votes | % | Seats |
---|---|---|---|
National Party of Honduras (Partido Nacional de Honduras) | 46.5 | 61 | |
Liberal Party of Honduras (Partido Liberal de Honduras ) | 40.8 | 55 | |
Innovation and Unity Party-Social-Democracy (Partido de Inovación y Unidad-Social Democracia) | 4.6 | 4 | |
Democratic Unification Party (Partido de Unificación Democrática) | 4.5 | 5 | |
Christian Democratic Party of Honduras (Partido Demócrata Cristiano de Honduras) | 3,7 | 3 | |
Total (turnout 66.3 %) | 128 |
Honduras also returns deputies to the supranational Central American Parliament.
President
The President of the National Congress of Honduras is the presiding officer (speaker) of the National Congress of Honduras.
Presidents of the Congress 20th Century
Name | Term | Party | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Rafael Alvarado Manzano | 1914–1915 | National Party of Honduras | |
Angel Ugarte | 1921 | Liberal Party of Honduras | |
Miguel Oqueli Bustillo | 1923 | Liberal Party of Honduras | |
Angel Sevilla R. | 1924 | National Party of Honduras | |
Venancio Callejas | 1925–1926 | National Party of Honduras | |
Tiburcio Carías Andino | 1926–1929 | National Party of Honduras | First Time |
Antonio C. Rivera | 1929–1930 | National Party of Honduras | First Time |
Tiburcio Carías Andino | 1930–1931 | National Party of Honduras | Second Time |
Santiago Meza Cálix | 1931–1932 | Liberal Party of Honduras | |
Antonio Bográn | 1932 | National Party of Honduras | |
Abraham Williams C. | 1932 | National Party of Honduras | |
Miguel Paz Barahona | 1933–1934 | National Party of Honduras | |
Ramón Alcerro Castro | 1934–1935 | National Party of Honduras | President of the National Constituent Assembly of 1943 |
Antonio C. Rivera | 1935–1939 | National Party of Honduras | Second Time |
Plutarco Muñoz P. | 1939–1948 | National Party of Honduras | |
Luciano Milla Cisneros | 1949 | National Party of Honduras | |
Juan B. Valladares R. | 1949 | National Party of Honduras | |
Jose Máximo Gálvez | 1949–1950 | National Party of Honduras | |
Camilo Gómez y Gómez | 1950–1954 | National Party of Honduras | |
Francisco Salomón Jiménez Castro | 1954 | National Party of Honduras | |
Ramón Villeda Morales | 1957 | Liberal Party of Honduras | President of the Constituent Assembly of 1957 and then, President of Honduras 1957-1963. |
Modesto Rodas Alvarado | 1957–1963 | Liberal Party of Honduras | He was overthrown by the military coup led by Oswaldo López Arellano. |
Héctor Orlando Gomez C. | 1963 | Liberal Party of Honduras | He assumed the Presidency of the Congress for a few days, after the military coup led by Oswaldo López Arellano |
Mario E. Rivera López | 1965–1971 | National Party of Honduras | He was President of the National Constituent Assembly of 1965 and the National Congress from 1965 to 1971. |
Martín Agüero Vega | 1971–1972 | National Party of Honduras | |
Roberto Suazo Cordova | 1981 | Liberal Party of Honduras | He was the President of the National Constituent Assembly that drew up the 1982 Honduran Constitution. He was then elected President of Honduras in the Honduran general election, 1981 |
List of Presidents since 1982
Name | Term | Party |
---|---|---|
Efraín Bu Girón | 1982–1986 | Liberal Party of Honduras |
Carlos Orbin Montoya | 1986–1990 | Liberal Party of Honduras |
Rodolfo Irias Navas | 1990–1994 | National Party of Honduras |
Carlos Roberto Flores | 1994–1998 | Liberal Party of Honduras |
Rafael Pineda Ponce | 1998–2002 | Liberal Party of Honduras |
Porfirio Lobo Sosa | 2002–2006 | National Party of Honduras |
Roberto Micheletti | 2006–2009 | Liberal Party of Honduras |
José Alfredo Saavedra |
2009–2010 | Liberal Party of Honduras |
Juan Orlando Hernández | 2010–2014 | National Party of Honduras |
Mauricio Oliva | 2014–present | National Party of Honduras |
See also
- Politics of Honduras
- Government of Honduras
- Supreme Court of Honduras
- Executive branch of the government of Honduras
- List of legislatures by country
References
- ↑ "Nueva directiva del CN fue electa por 76 diputados - Diario El Heraldo". Elheraldo.hn. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
- ↑ "Buscador". Elheraldo.hn. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
- ↑ Florian Eckerstorfer. "Twitter Bootstrap for Symfony2". Siede.tse.hn. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-02-21. Retrieved 2015-02-21.
- ↑ "Un nuevo en PDCH - Diario La Tribuna Honduras". Latribuna.hn. 2014-06-27. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
- ↑ Honduras (2015-02-20). "Masiva adhesión de Libres al PL - Diario La Prensa". Laprensa.hn. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
- ↑ "Expulsados de Libre forman octava bancada - Diario La Tribuna Honduras". Latribuna.hn. 2015-02-25. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-04-19. Retrieved 2015-04-10.
- ↑ "Diputada de Libre renuncia y se une a bancada independiente - Diario La Tribuna Honduras". Latribuna.hn. 2015-05-05. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
- ↑ "Otro diputado de Libre se adhiere a las filas de PDCH - Diario La Tribuna Honduras". Latribuna.hn. 2015-06-27. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-06-28. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
- ↑ "Esdras Amado López y Denis Sánchez ya no tienen cabida en Libre - Diario La Tribuna Honduras". Latribuna.hn. 2016-02-16. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
- ↑ Honduras (2016-02-16). "Expulsados de Libre Esdras López y Denis Sánchez - Diario La Prensa". Laprensa.hn. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
- ↑ "Diputados del Pac hoy al banquillo de los acusados - Diario La Tribuna Honduras". Latribuna.hn. 2016-02-22. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
- ↑ Honduras (2016-03-18). "Consejo Nacional del PAC "desconoce" a cuatro diputados - Diario La Prensa". Latribuna.hn. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
- ↑ "El Pac suspende a cuatro diputados - Diario La Tribuna Honduras". Latribuna.hn. 2016-03-18. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
- ↑ Carlos Morales. "Tatiana Canales: Diputada de LIBRE regresa al Partido Liberal". Tiempo.hn. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
- ↑ "2 diputados de Libre vuelven al Partido Liberal - Diario La Tribuna Honduras". Latribuna.hn. 2016-05-15. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
- ↑ "Tres ex diputados de LIBRE regresan al Partido Liberal | ULTIMA HORA | HONDURAS :: Los Jóvenes de Honduras Se Informan Aquí |". Ultimahora.hn. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
- ↑ "Radio HRN (@radiohrn)". Twitter. 2009-07-09. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
- ↑ "Diputada Jenny Murillo deja a Libre para unirse al Partido Nacional - Noticias | Televicentro". Televicentro.hn. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
- ↑ http://www.laprensa.hn/honduras/1005212-410/partido-liberal-se-convierte-en-la-segunda-fuerza-en-el-congreso-nacional
- ↑ http://www.radiohrn.hn/l/noticias/de-la-mano-de-dios-y-con-el-apoyo-del-pueblo-hondure%C3%B1o-voy-ser-el-pr%C3%B3ximo-presidente-de
External links
- Official website (Spanish)