Honduras: Political Parties & Elections

Since independence in 1821, Honduras has constitutionally been a democratic, representative, unitary state with power divided among executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Under the current framework, the president serves as both head of state and government and is elected directly by popular vote for a nonrenewable four-year term, while the single-chamber National Congress is composed of 128 legislators elected for concurrent four-year terms.

Honduran politics has long been shaped by two historic parties. The Liberal Party, founded in 1891, is the country's oldest active party, while the National Party was founded in 1902 by Manuel Bonilla Chirinos and formally organized in 1916 under Francisco Bertrand. National Party leader Tiburcio Carias Andino won the 1932 election and governed until 1949, a period that helped establish the party as one of the two dominant forces in Honduran politics for much of the twentieth century.

After nearly two decades of military-led governments, Honduras returned to civilian rule following elections in 1980 for a Constituent Assembly, which drafted the constitution adopted in 1982. Liberal Party candidate Roberto Suazo Cordova became the first president elected under the new constitution, and the 1985 election brought fellow Liberal Jose Azcona del Hoyo to office, marking the first peaceful transfer of power between civilian presidents in more than three decades. The Liberal and National parties continued to alternate in government for years afterward, a rivalry that remains central to the country's political history.