The 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis was a political confrontation concerning the events that led to, included, and followed the 2009 Honduran coup d'état and the political breakdown associated with it. The coup was repudiated around the globe, but Roberto Micheletti, head of the government installed after the coup, has claimed that the Honduran Supreme Court ordered the detention of Manuel Zelaya, the deposed President of Honduras, and that the following succession was constitutionally valid.

The policies of Zelaya drifted to the left, causing conflicts with the political establishment. He advocated a constitutional assembly to write or reform the constitution with a fourth ballot box referendum, but opponents considered writing or reforming the constitution via a referendum was unconstitutional.

Following the removal of Zelaya as President, there were problems with the interim presidency of Micheletti and efforts were being made both domestically and internationally to resolve the political crisis. The crisis ended after President Porfirio Lobo assumed office in January 2010.

September 30, 2008 Zelaya issued emergency executive decree 46-A-2208, which authorized the transfer of 30 million lempiras of public money to the advertising of his fourth ballot box. Soon afterwards, he issued another emergency executive decree which was identical, except that the money was transferred to his office.

Auditors later found that Zelaya's administration issued 29 checks and spent a total of 29,995,887.62 lempiras. It is unclear whether another 30 million was withdrawn. It was also discovered Manuel Zelaya spent more than 100,000 lempiras in veterinarian's fees for his horse, Coffee. This was criticized. The supposed advertisers paid no sales tax. The Supreme Audit Court's investigation raised concerns of squandering.

November 11, 2008 President Zelaya announced that he was seeking to have a fourth ballot box, or cuarta urna, installed at polling places during the next election, which was scheduled for the 29 November 2009. The fourth ballot, which would be in addition to the usual ones for presidential, congressional and local elections, would ask voters whether they wanted to hold a National Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution.

Zelaya, whose presidential term was to expire on 27 January 2010, would be ineligible, under the term-limitations of the present constitution, to run in the 2009 election.

February 2009

February 17 At a public showcasing of tractor equipment received from Venezuela, Manuel Zelaya states that he will propose a fourth ballot box, according to a June editorial in La Prensa.

March 2009

March 24 Zelaya called for a preliminary poll to be held on 28 June 2009 to gauge popular support for the idea of including the Constituent Assembly question in the November 2009 election. On that day he issued executive decree PCM-05-2009 for the National Statistical Institute to hold the poll by June 28, 2009. The question to be asked in this preliminary poll was: "Are you in accord that in the general elections of November 2009 there be included a fourth ballot in which the people decide whether to convoke a National Constituent Assembly?"Translated by Wikipedia. Original Spanish: "¿Está de acuerdo que en las elecciones generales de noviembre del 2008 se instale una Cuarta Urna en la cual el pueblo decida la convocatoria a una Asamblea Nacional Constituyente?" This was the text released in the official declaration of 27 June 2009. In Zelaya's initial announcement on 24 March, the text was slightly different: "¿Está usted de acuerdo que en las elecciones generales de noviembre se instale una urna para convocar a una Asamblea Constituyente que apruebe una nueva Constitución Política?" Sources: 27 June declaration published in La Tribuna, 27 June; 24 March question reported in "Honduras: busca reforma constitucional", BBC Mundo, op. cit..

President of the Congress, Roberto Micheletti, stated that article 374 of the constitution states that no referendum can be used to alter the entrenched articles in the constitution that are specified in article 384."Honduras: buscar reforma constitucional", BBC Mundo op. cit. Note that article 374 does not say that; and there is no article 384: the constitution has only 378 numbered articles. Apparently either the BBC, La Tribuna (the BBC's source), or Micheletti are in error. The quote from Micheletti, copied and pasted from the BBC article, is: "El artículo 374 dice que no se podrá utilizar el plebiscito y el referendo para reformar los artículos pétreos que establece el artículo 384 y que se refiere a la forma de gobierno, al territorio nacional, al período presidencial, a la prohibición para ser nuevamente Presidente de la República al ciudadano que lo haya desempeñado bajo cualquier tipo y referente." (BBC's source was La Tribuna.) He stated that even to announce such a referendum privately is a crime (" . . . porque eso, incluso, anunciarlo privadamente es un delito.")

May 27, 2009 In late May, an administrative court ruled Zelaya's plan illegal. On May 27, Micheletti announced that he had submitted evidence to the public prosecutor that the Executive branch had put out a contract to have him killed. He said that for more than a month he'd been followed and menaced with death and placed responsibility on the Executive branch. Zelaya responded that "whoever made these claims had swine flu and was delirious."Quienes hacen esas denuncias tienen fiebre porcina y están deliriando"

June 2009

June 3 Congress passes a resolution warning Zelaya to correct his administrative conduct.

June 10 The council of the Bar Association of Honduras unanimously agreed that Zelaya's plan is illegal. It asked Zelaya to stop the illegalities and recommended officials not follow his illegal orders.

June 11 Civil societies demonstrated against the illegalities and asked the state prosecutor to take necessary action against Zelaya.

Members of the Democratic Unification Party reported that the government had given Cesar Ham 4 million lempiras to promote Zelaya's illegal poll.

June 19 More than 5,000 people marched in opposition to Zelaya's plans.

June 20 Thousands march to defend the constitution and oppose Zelaya's violations of law. The demonstrators expressed sharp opposition to Hugo Chávez.

June 22 Political analyst and former minister German Leitzelar noted that "According to the Penal Code Article 302, officials promoting the fourth urn could face between 15 and 20 years in prison, accused of the crime of treason".

June 23 Around 120,000 people marched in San Pedro Sula to defend the constitution and oppose Zelaya's illegal plans. They were dressed in white and carried the national flag as well as banners supporting peace, democracy and freedom.

The National Congress passed a law forbidding holding referendums and plebiscites less than 180 days before the next general election; as the next elections are set for 29 November 2009 this would have made the 28 June 2009 poll illegal.Also The New York Times, 29 June 2009, op. cit.

Former President Rafael Leonardo Callejas warned Zelaya not to proceed with his illegal plans and reminded everyone that the courts decide what is legal and what is illegal, not the president.

June 24

After 11:00 people dressed in white marched to defend the constitution and oppose Zelaya's "illegal" plans. The demonstration was organized by the Comité para la Democracia y la Paz. After speeches people cheered and chanted "Viva Honduras, we want to be free and democratic!".

The military is in charge of security and logistics in elections in Honduras. Zelaya asked them to perform their election role for the referendum, but the head of the military command, General Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, refused the order to pass out the election materials, brought from Venezuela, because the Supreme Court ruled the referendum to be illegal. Zelaya fired him. Later that day, the defense minister and heads of the army, navy and air force resigned.

Zelaya's followers violently attacked anti-Zelaya demonstrators near the presidential palace.

June 25

Just days before his illegal survey, PCM-019-2009, which revokes the decree PCM-05-2009 and was issued (but not published) in March, is published in the official Gazette, Zelaya issued a new executive decree PCM-20-2009 (Gazette number 31945) which annulled PCM-05-2009 and PCM-19-2009. The new decree calls for a "Public Opinion Survey Convening a Constitutional Assembly".

A Venezuelan plane landed at Toncontín International Airport. The plane carried electoral material which had been printed in Venezuela.

At 11:00 a.m., the Supreme Electoral Tribunal ordered the confiscation of electoral materials.

At 12:00 p.m., the Constitutional Room of the Supreme Court of Justice of Honduras ruled that General Velásquez be reinstated.

At 15:00, Zelaya took possession of the impounded ballots at military base Hernan Acosta Mejia, which were then moved by them to the presidential palace.

At a televised gathering of his supporters, Zelaya said that "[t]he only one who can't be re-elected is the President, but re-election is a topic of the next National Constitutional Assembly"—a statement taken by some to be a proposal in violation of the current Honduran constitution, while others viewed it as merely conjecture regarding a possible future new constitution.

Members of Congress said that Zelaya made a "very serious" mistake.

June 26

Generation for Change (Generación por Cambio) youth movement protested outside Venezuelan embassy in Honduras against Chavez, Zelaya, and the coming referendum. They carried red handkerchiefs in their mouths to symbolize the censorship in Venezuela.

The Peace and Democracy Movement held a massive rally in Tegucigalpa's central park. Participants said that the rally was in defense of the constitution and democracy, and against Zelaya's attempts to modify the constitution. Members of the Civic Democratic Union also gathered to express their opposition to the illegal survey.

Local Catholic leader Auxiliary Bishop Darwin Andino of the Catholic Church stated that the Church did not support the referendum efforts of Zelaya, that the country must not surrender to Chavez nor anyone else, and that the constitution must be defended by all Hondurans.

Congress began discussing how to impeach Zelaya. Congress opened an investigation into whether Zelaya had violated the constitution and whether he was "mentally incapable" of holding office. Zelaya responded to the President of the National Congress Roberto Micheletti, a member of the same party who has since been sworn in as President in his stead, by saying "What's with you, Roberto. I was elected by the people, not the congress. How would you make me ineligible, you're a lousy second-rate congressman who got your post because I gave you space in my party."

President of Congress Micheletti wrote to Romeo Vásquez Velásquez saying "Respectfully I am writing you to greet you and to remind you of the Mission to be undertaken June 28; that already the institution that you lead has been called to defend our constitution and country and every one of those Hondurans thanks you ... These people who say they are Hondurans and wish to change our constitution don't deserve to be in our country, violating our constitution and selling our country."Respetuosamente me dirijo a usted con el fin de saludarle y al mismo tiempo recordarle la Mision a realizar el 28 de junio ya que la institucion que usted preside ha sido llamada a defender nuestra constitucion y la patria y cada uno de los hondureños se lo agradecerán. Ya que esas personas que dicen ser hondureños que quieren cambiar nuestra constitución no merecen estar en este país, violando nuestra constitución y vendiendo nuestra patria.Scan of Carta de Roberto Micheletti a Romeo Vasquez Velasquez, 26 Junio, 2009