TEGUCIGALPA
The process to select the new authorities of the National Electoral Council (CNE) and the Electoral Justice Tribunal (ECJ) has aroused widespread interest that could lead to an unprecedented number of candidates.
The president of the Special Selection Commission, Antonio Rivera Callejas, confirmed that after the official call from the call The first applicant has already been received and that queries about filling out forms have been constant from various sectors, including figures from civil society who are looking for a space in the administration of justice and Honduran democracy.
The Commission has made it clear that, although a correction period has been enabled, there will be no extensions for the delivery of files, strictly maintaining the original schedule.
For the parliamentarian, the flow of calls and requests for information reflects that the catalog of candidates will be broad and diverse, which will force the commissioners to do exhaustive work during the elections. public hearings to filter the best technical profiles.
“We already received the first applicant in the morning, it seems that several are going to apply because many people have called me asking for information on how to download the forms and it seems that we are going to have a lot of work; approximately today about seven people have called me because they cannot find how to fill out the link,” explained the owner of the commission.
Despite the optimism due to the volume of applicants, there is a veil of uncertainty about the political outcome in the plenary session.
Rivera Callejas recognized that the greatest risk is not the lack of suitable candidates, but the possibility that the political forces will not be able to reach the necessary 86 votes, which would leave the institutions in a situation of prolonged acephaly.
The deputy emphasized that the commission’s work is technical, but the final decision rests with a political lobby that must seek minimum consensus to avoid stagnation of the electoral entities.
Regarding the participation of civil society figures, the commission confirmed that analysts and prominent members of non-governmental organizations have requested the requirements to participate in the process.
Regarding the possible representation of the Libertad y Refoundación (Libre) party in the vacancies, the president of the commission avoided advancing criteria, pointing out that the applications are individual in nature and that each candidate must respond for their own career and not for the actions of the officials who were dismissed.
“My fear is not so much that they criticize that we already have candidates, it is the opposite, it is that because there are no talks in these twenty days we will not reach 86 votes with any of them; let’s hope that we do a good job and that the plenary session does a good job as well,” Rivera said.
Dialogue and applicants
For its part, the bench of Freedom and Refoundation (Free) has adopted a position of cautious confidence, stating that there are open communication channels with both the president of Congress, Tomás Zambrano, and the head of the liberal bench, Jorge Cálix.
Deputy Luis Ortega assured that so far there is a verbal commitment from the majority forces to respect the spaces that correspond to Libertad y Refoundación (Libre) in the electoral bodies, despite the fact that the political agreements of the past have been fractured.
Libre’s strategy seems to be consolidated, since they have a “range” of profiles for each vacancy, including current deputies and former parliamentarians who would be ready to undergo the public process.
Ortega insisted that the dialogue is active and that his party has the legitimate right to occupy those spaces after years of political struggle, so they hope that the opening promises will be translated into real votes at the time of the final choice in the legislative chamber.
“There is openness and availability, therefore we do not have to set off the alarms, and until today it is being respected and the dialogue is open,” said Deputy Ortega.
In this context of negotiations, THE PRESS He learned the names of five figures from the Libre bench who would be preparing their documentation to apply for the vacant positions.
Among the names that stand out are Luz Angélica Smith, Germán Altamirano, Marco Ramiro Lobo, Mario Portillo and Nelson Leivawho represent the party’s commitment to regain presence in the country’s electoral structure.
The expectation grows as the closing of the registration period approaches next Sunday at 5:00 pm, after which the 48-hour period will begin to correct formal errors in the files.
