US embassy cable - 05TEGUCIGALPA2364

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 TEGUCIGALPA 002364 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/PPC, WHA/USOAS, AND DRL/PHD 
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CEN AND DCHA/DG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, HO 
SUBJECT: Honduran Elections: Simple Majority for President, 
Proportionality for Congress, and Combination for Cities 
 
REF: Tegucigalpa 2346 and previous 
 
1. Summary: The Honduran presidential elections will be 
decided by simple majority vote; the congressional election 
by proportional representation using a quotient and residues 
(left over votes); and the municipal elections will use 
aspects of both formulas.   The first formula is self- 
explanatory.  The second and third ones are complex and 
require detailed explanation.  End Summary. 
 
President: Simple Majority 
-------------------------- 
 
2. The presidential race will be determined by the candidate 
who wins the greatest number of votes: a simple majority. 
According to the Electoral Law it is not necessary to obtain 
an absolute majority.  For the last five presidential 
elections, candidates have won with 50 percent or greater; 
however, the law allows candidates to win with a lesser 
percentage. 
 
Congress: Proportionality 
------------------------- 
 
3. For the congressional ballot, primary results were used 
for ballot placement in the general elections.  During the 
primaries, simple majorities were used to determine the 
victors from the different movements within the parties. 
During the primaries the principle of simple majority was 
applied, with candidates then rank ordered based on the 
number of votes they received.  In the general elections the 
principle of proportional representation will be applied to, 
in theory, facilitate minority representation.  The 
candidates will be ranked within their party by the number of 
votes each received, and then the number of congressional 
seats won by each party will be determined by a percentage 
equation determined by the percentage of votes won by the 
party.  Top ranked small party candidates may win in the 
elections, even if they receive a much smaller number of 
votes.  Each department will have a different quotient to 
determine the winners. 
 
4. Congressional seats are determined by department 
population, with each department guaranteed a minimum of one 
seat.    The number of seats by department are:  Francisco 
Morazan (23); Cortes (20); Choluteca (9); Santa Barbara (9); 
Yoro (9); Atlantida (8); Comayagua (7); Copan (7); Olancho 
(7); El Paraiso (6); Lempira (5); Colon ((4); Valle (4); 
Intibuca (3); La Paz (3); Ocotepeque (2); Gracias a Dios (1); 
and Islas de la Bahia (1).  All congressional seats are at- 
large within a department; there are no individual 
congressional districts. 
 
5. Voters may select candidates from any of the five parties 
with the maximum number of votes equaling the number of seats 
in the department.  After the close of the polls, the total 
number of votes will be tallied, the average vote per seat 
determined, and each candidate's number of votes recorded. 
(Formula 1: total number of voters/number of seats = X 
average vote per seat)  This number, called the quotient, is 
then used to determine the party percentage.  (Formula 2: 
total number of party votes/X average vote per seat = number 
of party congressional seats).  The remaining votes - the 
residue: those that are a partial remainder from the party 
percentage equation - will be used to determine the remaining 
seat(s), going to the parties with the highest residues. 
Ties, in votes or residues, will be resolved by a lottery 
called by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE).  The final 
winners are determined by their declining ranking of votes 
obtained in their party, from the total number of votes 
garnered.  Each party's number of seats won will be used to 
select that top number of their candidates.  This will be 
done for each of the 18 departments. 
 
Congressional Example 
--------------------- 
 
6. Below is a hypothetical election in the Department of 
Choluetca with nine seats available.  Suppose that there are 
1,200,000 valid votes for congressional candidates with the 
parties receiving the following number of votes: 
 
Party A 600,000 
Party B 400,000 
Party C 100,000 
Party D  60,000 
Party E  40,000 
 
7. Applying formula 1 you divide the 1,200,000 votes by the 9 
congressional seats which equals 133,333.  Formula 2 is then 
applied, dividing the total number of votes each party 
receives by 133,333 in order to obtain the following results: 
 
Party A 600.000/133.333 = 4 quotients with a residue of 
66,668 votes; 
Party B 400,000/133,333 = 3 quotients with a residue of one 
vote; 
Party C 100,000/133,333 = 0 quotients with a residue of 
100,000 votes; 
Party D 60,000/133.333 = 0 quotients with a residue of 60,000 
votes; and 
Party E 40,000/133,333= 0 quotients with a residue of 40,000 
votes. 
 
8. According to the equations above, Party A gets 4 seats and 
Party B gets 3 seats, with 2 seats still to be distributed. 
The law says that the remaining congressmen will be granted 
to those parties which have obtained the largest residues in 
the department.  In this case, the largest residues are Party 
C with 100,000 votes and Party A with 66,000 votes.  One 
congressman is assigned to each one resulting in the 
following final distribution of seats: 
 
Party A  5 seats 
Party B  3 seats 
Party C  1 seats 
Party D  0 seats 
Party E  0 seats 
 
9. To then assign which individual candidates receive the 
seats won by each party, the candidates from each party are 
reordered from most voted to least voted according to the 
number of votes they received.  The top vote getters from 
each party are then assigned however many seats the party has 
won. 
 
Municipal Elections: Simple Majority Plus Proportionality 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
10. There are 298 municipalities with a mayor, deputy mayor 
(no city council seat), and 4 to 10 city council seats.  The 
number of city council seats vary according to the 
municipality: a corporation with 4 city council seats plus a 
mayor in 60 municipalities; a corporation with 6 city council 
seats plus a mayor in 98 municipalities; a corporation with 8 
city council seats plus a mayor in 114 municipalities; and a 
corporation with 10 city council seats plus a mayor in the 26 
major municipalities of the country. 
 
11. Voters will only vote for the mayor/deputy mayor of their 
choice.  The city council slate of each mayoral candidate 
does not appear on the ballot.  The Mayor will be determined 
by simple majority.  The city council makeup will be 
determined in a similar way as congressional positions. 
However, the formula is somewhat more complicated.  After the 
close of the polls, the total number of votes will be 
tallied, the average vote per seat determined and each 
candidate's number of votes recorded.  (Formula 1: total 
number of votes/number of city council seats including the 
mayor = X average vote per seat.)  This number, called the 
quotient, is then used to distribute the city council seats. 
The average vote per seat (X) is subtracted from the total 
votes for mayor and the first city council seat is assigned 
to the first candidate on whichever mayoral slate has the 
most votes after the subtraction takes place.  This process 
in then repeated until all city council seats are assigned. 
 
Municipal Example 
----------------- 
 
12. Using a sample case from the 2001 election in Candelaria, 
Lempira, a municipality with a mayor plus 6 city council 
seats, there where 2,086 votes.  Applying Formula 1, the 
2,086 votes are divided by 7 (6 city council seats plus the 
mayor) resulting in a quotient of 298.  In this election the 
votes were: 
 
PL 1,043 (Liberal Party) 
PN 1,005 (National Party) 
PINU  21 (Party for Innovation and National Unity) 
CD    11 (Christian Democrat) 
UD     6 (Democratic Unification) 
 
13. After awarding the mayor's position to PL, the quotient 
is subtracted from the PL and the vote tallies are revised to 
look like this: 
 
PL   745 (1,043-298) 
PN 1,005 
PINU  21 
CD    11 
UD     6 
 
14. The first city council seat is then assigned to the NP as 
they have the highest remaining number of votes.  The 
quotient is then subtracted from the PN and the vote tallies 
are revised to look like this: 
PL   745 (1,043-298) 
PN   707 (1,005-298) 
PINU  21 
CD    11 
UD     6 
 
15. To pick the second city council seat another quotient 
will be subtracted from the party which obtained the first 
city council seat (PL), awarding the second city council seat 
to the PN. 
16. This process will continue until all city council seats 
are filled.  Once the remaining votes per party are below the 
quotient, the seats are assigned by the highest residue of 
votes. 
 
Ford