National Congress of Honduras

The National Congress (Spanish: Congreso Nacional) is the legislative branch of the government of Honduras.

National Congress of Honduras
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
President	Mauricio Oliva, National Party since 25 January 2014
Structure
Seats	128
Political groups	Government (67)      National Party (61)      Honduran Patriotic Alliance (4)      Christian Democratic Party (1)      Democratic Unification Party (1) Opposition (61)      LIBRE (30)      Liberal Party (26)      Innovation and Unity Party (4)      Anti-Corruption Party (1)
Elections
Voting system	Open list proportional representation
Last election	26 November 2017
Next election	28 November 2021
Meeting place
Tegucigalpa
Website
www.congresonacional.hn

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.

Directive

2018-2022 legislative period

The current directive of the National Congress is:[1]

• Mauricio Oliva (President) (PNH)
• Antonio César Rivera (1st Vice-President) (PNH)
• Denis Armando Castro (2nd Vice-President) (APH)
• Milton Jesus Puerto Oseguera (3rd Vice-President) (PNH)
• Mario Noé Villafranca (4th Vice-President) (UD)
• Felicito Ávila Ordóñez (5th Vice-President) (DC)
• Gladis Aurora López (6th Vice-President) (PNH)
• Román Villeda Aguilar (7th Vice-President) (PNH)
• Elden Vásquez (Alternate Vice-President) (PNH)
• Walter Antonio Chávez Hernández (Alternate Vice-President) (PNH)
• Olga Josefa Ayala Alvarenga (Alternate Vice-President) (PNH)
• Dunia Lizzette Ortiz Cruz (Alternate Vice-President) (APH)
• José Tomás Zambrano Molina (1st Secretary) (PNH)
• Salvador Valeriano Pineda (2nd Secretary) (PNH)
• Teresa Concepción Cálix Raudales (1st Pro-Secretary) (PNH)
• Rossel Renán Inestroza Martínez (2nd Pro-Secretary) (PNH)
• Gerardo Tulio Martínez Pineda (Alternate Secretary) (PNH)
• Wilmer Raynel Neal Velásquez (Alternate Secretary) (PNH)

2014–2018 legislative period

The current directive of the National Congress is:[2]

• Mauricio Oliva (President) (PNH)
• Gladis 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:[3]

• 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
[4]

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.[5] On the following months, Cotto joined the DC.[6]

On February 21, 2015, Congresswoman Tatiana Canales announced her incorporation to the Liberal Party, after failed negotiations with PAC.[7] 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.[8]

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[9]

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[10] 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 [11][12]

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.[13][14] 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.[15]

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.[16][17]

In 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.[18][19][20]

In 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 said 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.[21][22]

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.[23]

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. [24]

On the first days of December 2016, the deputy of the department of Cortés Jaime Enrique Villegas has decided to resign from the Anticorruption Party based on the reasons that they had differences with the leaders of the party and they don't allow him to participate on decisions of importance. But later in July 2017 he decided to be a member of the National Party of Honduras and to be candidate for the general election in 2017 [25][26]

Also on the same month of December 2016 the deputy of Comayagua Liliam Villatoro has decided to resign from the Anticorruption Party because she has expressed with the leader of the party Salvador Nasralla and they don't allow her to participate on the sessions of the party with new ideas.[27]

On the half days of July 2017, the deputies Rafael Padilla and David Reyes of the departments of Francisco Morazán and Choluteca respectively, have joined to the Innovation and Unity Party, based on the reason that the two deputies they don't want their original party, the Anticorruption Party to be led by the congresswoman Marlene Alvarenga.[28]

On the first days of August 2017, the deputies of Cortés Fátima Mena and Anibal Cálix has decided to join as deputies of the Innovation and Unity party, based on the reason that they don't want to be members of the Anticorruption Party led now by congresswoman Marlene Alvarenga. As of August 2017, none of the elected congressmen of the National Party, PINU, and UD have resigned from their respective party affiliation[29][30]

On the last days of September 2017, the deputies of the independent group Walter Banegas and Lilian Villatoro of the departments of Cortés and Comayagua respectively has decided to join as members of the Liberal Party of Honduras based on the reason that their original party, the Anticorruption Party no longer exists thus, increasing the Liberal caucus to 33.[31]

On the last days of October 2017, the deputy of Cortés Luis Redondo has decided to join as deputy of the Innovation and Unity party, based on the reason that he won't be a member of the Anticorruption party led by congresswoman Marlene Alvarenga.[32]

 Summary of the 29 November 2009 National Congress of Honduras election results

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

 Summary of the 27 November 2005 National Congress of Honduras election results

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:

 Summary of the 25 November 2001 Honduras National Congress (Congreso Nacional) election results

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 1900-1982

[33]

Name	Term	Party	Notes
Carlos Alberto Ucles	1900-1902
Rafael Alvarado Guerrero	1902-1903
Fausto Dávila	1904-1906
Francisco Escobar	1911-1913
Rafael Alvarado Manzano	1914–1915	National Party of Honduras
Francisco Escobar	1915-1918
Francisco Bográn	1919-1920
Angel Ugarte	1921	Liberal Party of Honduras
Miguel Oqueli Bustillo	1923	Liberal Party of Honduras
Ángel Sevilla Ramírez	1924	National Party of Honduras
Ramón Alcerro Castro	1924		President of the Constituent Assembly of 1924
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 Mojeron	1932	National Party of Honduras
Abraham Williams Calderón	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 Constituent Assembly of 1934
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 Rodríguez	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
Modesto Rodas Alvarado	1957–1963	Liberal Party of Honduras	He was overthrown by the military coup led by Oswaldo López Arellano.
Héctor Orlando Gómez Cisneros	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

[33]

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

1. "Así se conforma la nueva junta directiva del Congreso Nacional". 23 January 2018.
2. "Nueva directiva del CN fue electa por 76 diputados – Diario El Heraldo". Elheraldo.hn. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
3. "Buscador". Elheraldo.hn. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
4. Florian Eckerstorfer. "Twitter Bootstrap for Symfony2". Siede.tse.hn. Archived from the original on 2014-04-03. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-02-21. Retrieved 2015-02-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
6. "Un nuevo en PDCH - Diario La Tribuna Honduras". Latribuna.hn. 2014-06-27. Archived from the original on 2016-09-19. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
7. Honduras (2015-02-20). "Masiva adhesión de Libres al PL - Diario La Prensa". Laprensa.hn. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
8. "Expulsados de Libre forman octava bancada - Diario La Tribuna Honduras". Latribuna.hn. 2015-02-25. Archived from the original on 2016-09-19. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-04-19. Retrieved 2015-04-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
10. "Diputada de Libre renuncia y se une a bancada independiente - Diario La Tribuna Honduras". Latribuna.hn. 2015-05-05. Archived from the original on 2016-09-19. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
11. "Otro diputado de Libre se adhiere a las filas de PDCH - Diario La Tribuna Honduras". Latribuna.hn. 2015-06-27. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-06-28. Retrieved 2015-06-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
13. "Esdras Amado López y Denis Sánchez ya no tienen cabida en Libre - Diario La Tribuna Honduras". Latribuna.hn. 2016-02-16. Archived from the original on 2016-03-09. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
14. Honduras (2016-02-16). "Expulsados de Libre Esdras López y Denis Sánchez - Diario La Prensa". Laprensa.hn. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
15. "Diputados del Pac hoy al banquillo de los acusados - Diario La Tribuna Honduras". Latribuna.hn. 2016-02-22. Archived from the original on 2016-04-09. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
16. Honduras (2016-03-18). "Consejo Nacional del PAC "desconoce" a cuatro diputados - Diario La Prensa". Latribuna.hn. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
17. "El Pac suspende a cuatro diputados - Diario La Tribuna Honduras". Latribuna.hn. 2016-03-18. Archived from the original on 2016-11-09. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
18. Carlos Morales. "Tatiana Canales: Diputada de LIBRE regresa al Partido Liberal". Tiempo.hn. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
19. "2 diputados de Libre vuelven al Partido Liberal - Diario La Tribuna Honduras". Latribuna.hn. 2016-05-15. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
20. "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.
21. "Radio HRN (@radiohrn)". Twitter. 2009-07-09. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
22. "Diputada Jenny Murillo deja a Libre para unirse al Partido Nacional - Noticias | Televicentro". Televicentro.hn. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
23. "Partido Liberal se convierte en la segunda fuerza en el Congreso Nacional".
24. ""De la mano de Dios y con el apoyo del pueblo hondureño, voy a ser el próximo presidente de Honduras"". 6 November 2016.
25. "Renuncia al PAC el diputado Jaime Villegas". 7 December 2016.
26. "Jaime Villegas buscará diputación con el Partido Nacional (Audio)". 20 July 2017.
27. "PAC pierde a otra diputada - ULTIMA HORA - HONDURAS :: Los Jóvenes de Honduras Se Informan Aquí -". ultimahora.hn.
28. "Diputados del Partido Anticorrupción pasan a formar parte del Pinu - Diario El Heraldo".
29. "¿Estrategia Política? @FatimaMenaHN y @acalixpac se unen a bancada del @Pinusd_HN". 3 August 2017. Archived from the original on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
30. "Diputados Fátima Mena y Aníbal Cálix anuncian adhesión a bancada del Pinu". proceso.hn. Processo Digital.
31. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-09-21. Retrieved 2017-09-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
32. "De último momento Luis Redondo "se cuela" en planilla de diputados del Pinu-SD". proceso.hn. Processo Digital.
33. http://www.xplorhonduras.com/presidentes-del-congreso-nacional-1900-2014/

External links

• Official website (in Spanish)