Honduras president wants to break term limit just once

pulse

November 9, 2016 10:55 PM

Hernandez's National Party, which also controls Congress, says a Supreme Court ruling last year allows him to stand for a new term.

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez (C) with mother Elvira Alvarado (L) and wife Ana Garcia announces that he will run for re-election in Tegucigalpa on November 9, 2016

Honduras's president, Juan Orlando Hernandez, said Wednesday he wants to put aside a constitutional bar on his re-election just once, and would not stand again after elections in a year's time.

"I promise before the Honduran people to aspire to a single period of government," beyond his current four-year term, the 48-year-old leader told reporters.

His bid to win another mandate in November 2017 is a controversial one in Honduras.

A previous president, Manuel Zelaya, was ousted in 2009 after he tried to hold a non-binding referendum on ending the one-term limit.

The Central American nation's 1982 constitution limits presidents to a single term.

It even strips the citizenship of anyone who promotes changing the law to allow re-election.

But Hernandez's National Party, which also controls Congress, says a Supreme Court ruling last year allows him to stand for a new term.

The opposition disagrees, arguing the court does not have that power.

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