Honduras votes against Zelaya's return

NY Times:

The Honduran Congress voted Wednesday night against restoring the ousted president, Manuel Zelaya, to office to serve out the last two months of his term, throwing into further disarray an American-backed plan to end the country’s political crisis.

Congress voted 111-14 to ratify its decision on June 28 to vote Mr. Zelaya out of office after he had been arrested by the military and flown out of the country.

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The vote was stipulated in an accord the United States helped broker a month ago that was signed by Mr. Zelaya and the de facto president, Roberto Micheletti.

The agreement had appeared to be a road map for a compromise between the feuding politicians. Once its conditions were met, American officials said, the accord would lead the international community to restore relations and economic aid to Honduras.

Congress’s vote came three days after a general election — set long before the political upheaval began — that was won by a veteran conservative politician, Porfirio Lobo. He is to take office as president on Jan. 27.

Mr. Zelaya, who has been hunkered down in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, since September, appeared to believe when he signed the deal that he had enough votes in Congress to be restored to office to complete his term.

That misjudgment leaves his future in doubt. The de facto government has said that it will arrest him on charges of corruption and abuse of power if he leaves the embassy. Mr. Lobo has refused to say whether his government would pursue those charges once he took office.

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This is the result I always expected. The Honduran Congress had already voted Zelaya out of office because of his unconstitutional behavior. Why would they vote for his return? So far the government has met all the conditions set by the international community, including an attempt to form a unity government which Zelaya boycotted.

Here is a compilation of reports on the election. One fo them suggest that Zelaya is about to give up.