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TEGUCIGALPA – The National Resistance Front that arose after the June 28 ouster of President Manuel Zelaya in Honduras has abandoned hope for the restoration of ousted the former president and is focused now on convening an assembly to overhaul the country’s constitution, one of the group’s leaders said Thursday. “We have closed this chapter on the restoration of President Zelaya, which didn’t take place,” Juan Barahona told Efe the day after Honduran lawmakers rejected reinstatement of the deposed head of state. The Honduran Congress decisively rejected the restitution of deposed President Mel Zelaya in a vote of 62 to...

final score: 111 against Z 15 for Z.

TEGUCIGALPA — A majority in the Honduran Congress have voted against reinstating deposed President Manuel Zelaya and allowing him to finish out his term of office. A simple majority of 65 lawmakers in the 128-member body voted against Zelaya's return to the presidency shortly before 730 pm (0130 GMT) on Wednesday after more than six hours of debate.

Honduran lawmakers are due to decide on Dec. 2 whether to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya and let him finish his term until a newly elected leader takes office in January. Zelaya was exiled by soldiers in a June 28 coup but has been holed up in the Brazilian Embassy since sneaking back into Honduras in September. After he pulled out of a deal to decide his return, Zelaya's future looks even more uncertain. Here are some possible scenarios for Zelaya's prospects: CONGRESS VOTES TO REINSTATE ZELAYA Zelaya's opponents control the Honduran Congress, which voted to strip him of his...

Honduran lawmakers will not decide whether to restore ousted President Manuel Zelaya until after upcoming presidential elections, the congressional leader said Tuesday, a decision that could undermine international support for the vote. Congress will meet Dec. 2 — three days after the Nov. 29 election — to decide whether Zelaya should be returned the presidency to finish his constitutional term, which ends in January, congressional president Jose Alfredo Saavedra told local HRN radio station. Several Latin American countries have warned they will not recognize the outcome of the election unless Zelaya is restored beforehand. But the United States has not...

Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican known for his efforts to block influence domestic immigration and health-care issues, has scored a foreign-policy coup by helping to compel the Obama administration to shift its stance on strife-ridden Honduras. After demanding for months that deposed Honduran President Mel Zelaya be restored to power, senior State Department officials now say they'll accept the outcome of Nov. 29 elections in the Central American country even if Zelaya doesn't reclaim his post. "We support the elections process there," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Thursday. "We have provided technical assistance. ... These elections will...

Just barely meeting the November 5 deadline, Honduran President Roberto Micheletti reported to the country in a national broadcast that the cabinet of unity and reconciliation had been formed, despite the fact that Manuel Zelaya refused to provide any nominations for the new cabinet. Surrounded by dozens of smiling members of political parties and civic groups, Micheletti appeared pleased and concluded his speech with 'Viva Honduras!' three minutes before midnight. During his speech, Micheletti explained that at the beginning of the week, nominations were requested from the principal political parties, the presidential candidates, sectors of the civil society, and Manuel...

Honduras, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya says he has pulled out of a deal struck to end the country's political crisis. Speaking to local radio Friday, Zelaya said the deal with the interim government led by President Roberto Micheletti was off as far as he was concerned, The Wall Street Journal reported. "This deal is dead. The other side has failed to uphold their end," Zelaya reportedly said. Under the terms of the deal, a government of national unity would be created and the Honduran Congress would be allowed to determine if Zelaya could return to...

Lawmakers will wait until Tuesday to consider a U.S.-brokered agreement that could return deposed President Manuel Zelaya to power, despite diplomats' pleas to not delay an end to the country's 4-month-old political crisis. Monday is a holiday in Honduras, and many legislators are busy campaigning for Nov. 29 elections that will also elect a successor to Zelaya. Nonetheless, Zelaya said Saturday that he hopes he will be back in office by Thursday, the deadline for the two sides to establish a power-sharing government. "By Thursday, the government of national unity should be installed," he said in a meeting broadcast by...