The Honduran fourth ballot box referendum (Spanish: La cuarta urna) was a planned non-binding referendum by Honduran president Manuel Zelaya to gauge public opinion on a second, binding referendum aimed at convening a constitutional assembly. The referendum would have run concurrently with the November 2009 presidential, congressional, and mayoral elections (i.e. the first three ballot boxes). Some Hondurans opposed the plan, including many politicians from the two largest parties. When Zelaya pushed ahead with plans for this referendum (subsequently structured as a government-run 'poll') on whether to include a fourth ballot box (the second referendum), the Supreme Court issued a warrant for his arrest and the army expelled him from the country in a coup d'état on June 28, precipitating the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis.
Honduras and ALBA
On July 22, 2008, Zelaya had revealed that he was seeking to incorporate the country into the ALBA, an organization founded by Hugo Chávez. He said that the country had been "observer member" "four or more months". The Associated Press, citing Manuel Orozco of the Inter American Dialogue, said that "His [Zelaya's] campaign for changing the constitution has energized his support base of labour groups, farmers and civil organisations who have long felt marginalized in a country where a wealthy elite controls the media and much of politics."
Other leaders of ALBA have successfully sought to modify or even eliminate their term limits. "The constitution had since 1980 been tweaked in other areas around thirty times, to the point where politicians of all camps were convinced that the document was no longer adequate. This is where the formal change proposed by Manuel Zelaya comes in: that in the November 2009 election-round, the voters will be presented with four ballot-boxes - the fourth one being used for a referendum on the question: "Do you agree with convening a constituent assembly to draw up a new constitution?" Most members of the political class have been in agreement with the idea - but most too are unhappy with the man promoting it; in great part because lurking behind the fourth ballot-box they see... Hugo Chávez's shadow. The pre-coup political atmosphere revealed the fluidity surrounding the project of launching an independent candidate and the fourth ballot-box proposal. The establishment media owned by the country's elite were quick to connect them, and to try to see evidence of Hugo Chávez's influence." Newt Gingrich wrote in the Washington Examiner that Chavez had used ALBA to create "a tide of incipient dictatorship" flowing out of Venezuela into other countries in Latin America. He noted that Chavez has subverted democracy in Venezuela to ensure his rule would be uncontested for decades, and "one-by-one, each of the members of ALBA have followed Chavez's lead and changed their constitutions to remove limits on the number of terms their presidents can serve."
When Zelaya issued Executive Decree PCM-05-2009 on March 24, the situation was: Bolivia (Evo Morales) - Term limits modified in February 2009. Cuba (Raúl Castro) - De facto dictatorship. Ecuador (Rafael Correa) - Term limits modified in September 2008. Nicaragua (Daniel Ortega) - Modifications planned (Nicaraguan fourth ballot box). Venezuela (Hugo Chávez) - Term limits modified in February 2009, allowing indefinite re-election (after a failed attempt in 2007).
Daniel Ortega succeeded in modifying term limits in Nicaragua in November 2009.
Emergency executive decree
On September 30, 2008 Zelaya issued emergency executive decree 46-A-2208, which authorized 30 million lempiras of public money to advertise Zelaya's fourth ballot box. Soon after he issued another emergency executive decree, identical except that the money was transferred to his office. Auditors later found documentation of 29 checks and a total of 29,995,887.62 lempiras. The expenses weren't well documented. It is unclear whether another 30 million was withdrawn. The supposed advertisers paid no sales tax. The Supreme Audit Court's investigation raised concerns that 30-60 million was squandered with the two executive decrees.
Constitutional assembly plans Zelaya's leftward drift during his presidency (which included raising the minimum wage by 60%) culminated in a plan to hold a Constitutional Assembly to write a new constitution. A publicity document produced for the fourth ballot box initiative that outlined the goals of a constitutional convention was inserted in an Armed Forces timeline document. Some of the topics of a constitutional convention include social order; the establishment of a recall mechanism for politicians; actual freedom of the press through equitable access; economic liberty with social responsibility; authentic political liberty resulting in a representative democracy where politicians are responsible to their electorate instead of their party; more consultation of the populace; and other suggested topics. Notably absent in the flyer was any mention of extending the term of the president. Zelaya was quoted by popular media outlets as saying "[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". For minorities like the 400,000 ethnic Garifunas it held the promise of winning long-sought rights, such as proportional representation and legal title to communal and ancestral land.{} The Foreign Policy magazine's coverage stated there was nothing ideological about Zelaya's plan, noting that he never bothered to explain what kind of constitution he wanted, other than one that allowed his own reelection. The article concluded "In that respect, Zelaya is less a disciple of Chávez than of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, another unsavory character bereft of any ideal other than staying in power by hook or by crook."How to fix the mess in Honduras , Foreign Policy, June 29, 2009
The current Political Constitution of the Republic of Honduras was initially approved on 11 January 1982, three years after Honduras returned to civilian rule after many decades of mostly military governments. The provision of the constitution, at issue here, was written to prevent a president from extending his rule beyond one term to prevent another dictatorship. The National Congress of Honduras amended the Constitution 26 times from 1984 to 2005Dates of ratification and made 10 interpretations of the Constitution from 1982 to 2005.
Referendum on constitutional assembly As early as August 2006, Central America report stated that "liberal sectors" were proposing to reform " 'obsolete articles' " in the constitution, including one against presidential reelection. The report said that this was causing controversy.Central America report, 4 August 2006, excerpted in University of California at San Diego libraries, Latin American election statistics, retrieved 2009. Archived 2009-07-26. Debate regarding the convening of a constituent assembly took place in Honduras, with support from many groups.
On 11 November 2008, President Zelaya announced a non-binding referendum to see if the people wanted to have a fourth ballot box, "Cuarta Urna", installed at polling places during the next election, which is scheduled for 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.América Latina, Democracia Cristiana y golpes de Estado, Argenpress, 31 August 2009. Accessed 2009-09-01. Archived 2009-09-07. Zelaya pointed out on at least one occasion (26 June) that since the electorate's decision whether to convoke a constituent assembly would not be made until 29 November 2009 – simultaneously with the presidential election – any constitutional changes that might result would be too late to allow him to run for reelection."Honduras president: Nation calm before controversial vote", CNN, 27 June 2009. Others have also observed that the 29 November date set for the Constitutional Assembly poll is too late to facilitate Zelaya's continuation in office."Its not about Zelaya", MRzine (published by Monthly Review), 4 July 2009.
On February 17, at a public showcasing of tractor equipment received from Venezuela, Manuel Zelaya states that he will propose a fourth ballot box.
On 24 March 2009, 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. In May he issued executive decree PCM-05-2009 for the National Statistical Institute to hold the poll by 28 June 2009. The question to be asked in this preliminary poll was:
Early coverage of the constitutional crisis often repeated that Zelaya wanted to call a constitutional convention because he sought either to continue in office as President, or sought a chance to seek re-election to President at some future point. Such reports echo the claims of three of the four daily newspapers in Honduras, which originated these claims. An example of this type of coverage is the German newspaper, Die Welt, which wrote "Opponents of Zelaya believe he was pushing the limits of democracy with his drive to extend the single four-year term of presidents to allow re-election." As noted above, Zelaya pointed out on at least one occasion (26 June) that since the electorate's decision whether to convoke a constituent assembly would not be made until 29 November 2009 – simultaneously with the presidential election – any constitutional changes that might eventually result would be too late to allow him to run for reelection.
Courts declare the referendum illegal The Article 5 of the constitution states that only the Supreme Electoral Tribunal can schedule, organize and supervise referendums and plebiscites.
The President of the Congress, Micheletti, observed 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 Spanish 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.)