After two weeks of hard work to obtain signatures and the constitutive documents, on October 27 the National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP) presented before the Supreme Electoral Tribunal more than 81,000 signatures and other documents supporting the request for the inscription of the political instrument, the Freedom and Refoundation Party (LIBRE).
Thousands of supporters and activists of the FNRP gathered outside the electoral tribunal to support the presentation of the documents, which include LIBRE’s Declaration of Principles, Statutes, Political Work Plan, Charter, and its municipal, departmental and national structures.
Inside the electoral tribunal, the national coordination of the FNRP through the general coordinator, former president Manuel Zelaya, undertook formal delivery of the documents.
Zelaya said: “It is my duty to inform the society and representatives of the state of Honduras present here, that the Honduran people have started from the grassroots, a very strong, democratic, diverse, participatory movement, that will not be stopped, will not spare any effort to achieve the freedom of this country and the refoundation of Honduras, which is one of our principle intentions, in order to achieve justice that the Honduran people demand and deserve.”
He added the event marked the end of the political traditionalism: “We are entering a new era, opening a new era of democracy, democratic socialism open to the Honduran people and this new era has a name: Freedom and Democracy Party, LIBERTAD.”
Deputy coordinator of LIBRE and the FNRP Juan Barahona said it “is the will of the Honduran people since June 28, 2009, when the coup d’etat was undertaken, we await the positive response of the magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, giving us legal recognition, because we have fulfilled all legal requirements that the law demands”.
Union leader and member of the national coordination of the FNRP, Carlos H. Reyes, said this act fulfills the mandate of the FNRP assembly on June 26 and emphasised that any victory by LIBRE will not work if the FNRP, the movement which forms the basis of the country’s transformation, is not strengthened.
He said: “If the FNRP is not strong, LIBRE will be of no use if we win, because we already have the experience of the military coup against a constitutionally elected president who had his party to support him.” He closed his speech with cries for Francisco Morazan, Simon Bolivar, Honduras and Latin America.
The electoral tribunal has 20 days to examine the signatures with the National Electoral Census and then 60 days for all municipalities. This allows citizens to review and, if applicable, claim the misuse of their name.
During this time the electoral tribunal will review and decide if the documentation meets the requirements of law, so it is expected that a maximum of 100 days will be needed for a formal decision on whether it accepts the registration of the LIBRE Party.
[Abridged from http://resistenciahonduras.net ]