To Vote or Not to Vote, that is the question.

Personally, I think you have to vote if you want your voice to be heard.

Tomorrow, Sunday, is election day here in Honduras. The "resistance" or "opposition" to the current coup installed government has taken the position of not voting to show their opposition. I think that is crazy and if they are for democracy and against the coup, they should be going to the polls to vote democratically to elect the candidates of their choice.

Here is a review of how we got here:

Nov. 2008: National primary election to select the two major party candidates for president, Liberal Party and Democratic Party. Pepe Lobo and Elvin Santos win as the two candidates. The presidential election is one year later, Nov. 29, 2009. Mel Zeyela was the president at the time of this primary election. He is not a candidate because Honduras does not permit the president to serve more than one term.

Spring 2009: Mel makes speeches saying the Constitution should be amended to allow the president to serve longer than one term. The Congress says we set the Constitutional Conventions and no way, we don't want this. Mel then sets up a national vote for an "opinion poll" to see if the voters want to set up a Constitutional Convention to amend the constitution. If the poll vote is yes, a question would go on the Nov. 2009 ballot for a formal vote to appoint the Constitutional Convention. This would not put Mel on the ballot for reelection this Nov. but would make him eligible to run again in 2014.

May 2009: The Supreme Court says Mel's opinion poll election is unconstitutional and cannot happen. He says tough, he will not obey the court and sets the vote for June 29th. Then the Attorney General files charges against Mel in the Supreme Court for treason, violating his oath of office, etc. In Honduras, the military is in charge of running all elections. The head of the military announced that they will follow the Supreme Courts ruling and not help out in the election. Mel immediately fires the head of the military and goes with his people and confiscates all the ballots. The case against Mel is in the investigation stage and the last week of June the Supreme Court issues an arrest warrant for the military to bring Mel to the court to testify and trial.

Here is where everything went down the toilet. The military took the arrest warrant and arrested Mel on June 28th, but rather than taking him to the Supreme Court as they ordered, they took him to the military base, put him on a plane and deported him to Costa Rica, announcing he is no longer the President. This is the Coup. The military says they do not want to take over control of the country. The Supreme Court cannot do anything because Mel is not here to testify or have a trial.

The next day, June 29th, the Congress votes to remove Mel from office and the president of the Congress, Roberto Micheletti, takes over as President per their rules of succession. He tells the world he was democratically placed in the presidency. Internationally he is not recognized and called the defacto leader of the coup installed government. Most countries break ties with Honduras and impose sanctions. Micheletti does not budge.

The president of Costa Rica is agreed on as a mediator and recommends Mel be returned to a unity government where he has limited power, not in control of the military, and he gives up all attempts to amend the Constitution. Mel agrees to this but Micheletti refuses. Finally, last month, Micheletti says he will sign the accord but it is the Congress who must vote to reinstate Mel or not, he does not have the authority for this. Mel signs. Micheletti signs. The interim governors are appointed. However, the new president of the Congress says they won't vote on the return of Mel until after the election, more than a month later. All the Congress is up for reelection also and don't want to vote for or against Mel before the voters vote on them - politics.

So here we are. The Mel supporters new motto is NO VOTE. They don't want either candidate because both have supported Micheletti since his appointment. I say that if they want democracy they need to vote. Vote for the candidate they want to be president and if they are in the majority/plurality, they will win. Although the two major party candidates were picked a year ago, other candidates could be put on the ballot up to a month ago so the "opposition" could have nominated their own candidate if they don't like the two picked last year. I think their fear is that they are not in the majority so they could not elect anyone so they have chosen not to vote. I think that is not democratic at all.

I strongly disagree with what the military did and think Mel should have been returned to the presidency and removed legitimately after trial, but this does not make the elections illegitimate. I hope after the elections they arrest and prosecute the head of the military for his actions in the coup. This might make everyone a little happier but he will probably be pardoned by the next president and the discontent will continue. Pepe Lobo, the clear leader in the polls, indicated he would probably pardon Mel for his crimes so he will probably pardon the military man behind the coup too. No accountability for serious political crimes!

But still, voting is the way to go. This is all a tough lesson for the kids to live through and shape them and their future political views.