New Political Party for 2013

Sunday the Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular (FNRP)in Honduras voted to form a political party, called the Frente Amplio de Resistencia Popular (FARP) to participate in the 2013 elections. The party will be completely separate from the FNRP, which will remain a force for social change within the country.

Manuel Zelaya Rosales told the press that this new party will not seek to become a party by Congressional decree, but rather will go through the process of collecting signatures and becoming authorized in the usual way with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

One interesting quote from Zelaya suggests that membership in the new party will be by voluntary association, and that members will not be asked to abandoned their current party affiliations. How exactly that will work for things like internal elections was not made clear.

Candidates will be nominated by local assemblies, then elected by internal elections in FARP to run in the general elections.

This separation of the FNRP from the FARP would seem to resolve the essential tension between those in the Frente that want to become a political party, and those who want it to remain focused on social reforms. The press reported this was a consensus decision on the part of the delegates to the meeting.

The next step will be to hold another extraordinary session to define the party's governing rules and charter, and to collect around 47,000 signatures to register as a political party with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.