US embassy cable - 05TEGUCIGALPA2138

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 002138 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/PPC, WHA/USOAS, AND DRL/PHD 
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAM AND DCHA/DG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, HO 
SUBJECT: HONDURAN ELECTIONS NEWS: UPDATE 11 
 
REF: (A) Tegucigalpa 2126 
 
     (B) Tegucigalpa 2125 and previous 
 
Controversy Continues over Hernandez Candidacy 
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1. The Anticorruption Bar Association of Honduras has 
registered a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Unit of the 
Attorney General's Office denouncing the allegedly illegal 
manner in which the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) 
registered the candidacy for re-election of the current 
Secretary (Majority Whip) of Congress, Juan Orlando 
 
SIPDIS 
Hernandez.  The president of the organization, Jose Avila, 
stated that Hernandez, a close associate of National Party 
presidential candidate Pofirio "Pepe" Lobo, is barred 
constitutionally from running for office because he is 
related to a magistrate in the Supreme Court. 
 
National Party Calls for Straight Ticket Voting 
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2. President of the National Party Gilbert Goldstein said 
that National Party followers need to vote for the entire 
ticket of National Party candidates in their Departments so 
that the National Party is guaranteed winning the presidency 
and the Congress in the elections.  He said the message is 
clear in the National Party: to win the November elections 
the individual vote is not acceptable.  Goldstein said that 
the Party must be united and needs straight ticket voting, 
which will be crucial in congressional voting.  The new 
Electoral Law, passed in May 2004, provides citizens with the 
option of voting for an individual and thus allows splitting 
congressional votes for the first time in Honduras. 
 
Recovered ID Cards are Not Ones Stolen in 2004 
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3. National ID cards found recently scattered along a 
Tegucigalpa road do not belong to the batch of ID cards, some 
14,000, stolen last year from the National Registry of 
Persons (RNP).  However, the office of the Attorney General 
will continue to conduct investigations on this matter to 
decide if they were simply lost or if this has to do with 
theft.  (See refs A-B for details.)  RNP Director Mario 
Aguilar Gonzales, director of the RNP has already been called 
by the office of the Attorney General to testify on this 
matter, as well as a number of RNP employees and political 
activists.  Some 778 IDs were found scattered on the side of 
the road.  According to the press, 578 of these "lost" Ids 
had already been reissued by the RNP and 251 replacement IDs 
were used by voters in the February primary elections. 
Aguilar has promised that he will continue to investigate RNP 
employees for possible negligent behavior in the distribution 
of these personal documents. 
 
Williard