Zelaya scuttles unity government deal in Honduras

NY Times:

...

The accord also set Thursday as a deadline to name a unity government that would oversee preparations for a presidential election scheduled for later this month.

But none of this has happened. Critics said the accord was difficult to enforce since its only source of pressure was an American threat not to recognize the planned election.

Mr. Zelaya said early on Friday that the accord failed after Mr. Micheletti, the de factor (sic) president, moved to form a new government without him, Reuters reported. Mr. Zelaya declined to name any members to the cabinet and Mr. Micheletti said he was going ahead without them. “We’ve completed the process of forming a unity government,” Mr. Micheletti said in a televised speech quoted by Reuters. “It represents a wide spectrum despite the fact that Mr. Zelaya did not send a list of representatives.”

Mr. Zelaya said through a spokesman that the pact was dead and blamed the de facto government for its failure, Reuters said. Mr. Zelaya seemed unlikely to be returned to office.

As part of the deal, both Mr. Zelaya and Mr. Micheletti had agreed to put the question of Mr. Zelaya’s return to a vote in the Honduran Congress. But the accord set no deadline, and congressional leaders have yet to decide on a date for a vote.

After threatening that it would not recognize the presidential election scheduled for Nov. 29 unless Mr. Micheletti signed on to the deal, the Obama administration hinted that it would accept the results even if the accord’s terms are not fully met.

...
The story does not explain why Zelaya failed to submit a list of people for a unity government, but I suspect it was because he knew he did not have the votes in Congress to put him back in office. He probably chose this route to avoid the embarrassment of again being rejected by the Congress.

Since the original removal was done legally and according to the Honduran Constitution, the references to the "de facto" government are misleading but typical of most media accounts.

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