Honduras Starts Up Presidential Race with Ousted Zelaya Back in Political Game
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FILE - In this May 1, 2010 file photo, Xiomara Castro Zelaya, right, wife of former Honduras President Manuel Zelaya, waves to supporters during a Labor Day rally in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The political parties of Honduras are holding primary elections on Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012, as Castro's newly created party, the Libre, or Free party, is trying to break the country's 114- year-old two party system. (AP Photo/Fernando Antonio, file) (AP2012)
Three years after he was ousted from the presidency following a coup in Honduras, former President Manuel Zelaya is stepping back into the political game.
Three Honduran political parties chose their candidates for next year's general elections in primary voting Sunday.
Zelaya's wife, Xiomara Castro, is running uncontested as the presidential candidate in 2013 for the leftist Liberty and Refoundation party, or Libre, while the ousted president is seeking to be a congressional candidate.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The National and Liberal parties, which have long dominated Honduran politics, fielded multiple candidates.
Late Sunday, Honduras' Supreme Electoral Tribunal said preliminary results showed Mauricio Villeda ahead as presidential candidate for the Liberal Party while the National Party was favoring Juan Orlando Hernández.
It was unclear when the official final results would be announced.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A mission of 40 Organization of American States observers said the voting process had been "normal."
Supporters of Libre, which was formed after the 2009 coup d'etat that toppled Zelaya, hope it will break the lock on power held by the Liberal and National parties.
"Libre will break the bi-party system," said Zelaya on the eve of the primaries. "Libre is a peaceful, revolutionary, socialist and the hope for this country."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Honduras' army flew Zelaya out of the country after he went forward with plans for a referendum on changing the constitution even though the Supreme Court ruled the vote illegal. The coup was widely condemned by other nations.
Zelaya returned from exile in May 2011 under a deal brokered by Colombia and Venezuela, paving the way for Honduras' reintegration into the world community.
Sunday's voting was to choose candidates for the presidency and vice presidency, and open seats in the Central American Parliament, National Congress, and municipal councils.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Based on reporting by the Associated Press.
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