Honduran Congress to decide Zelaya fate

Lawmakers in the Honduran Congress are discussing whether ousted President Manuel Zelaya should return to power to serve the remainder of his presidency.

The debate on the issue kicked off on Wednesday as Porfirio Lobo was celebrating his victory in a controversial presidential election in the Central American country.

Porfirio has already declared his stance on the issue by calling on the Congress to decide the fate of the deposed constitutional leader, and Honduran officials are under increasing pressure from the regional states like Brazil that insist on Zelaya’s return to presidency.

Zelaya was ousted in a military coup on June 28 and has been sheltered in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa for over two months. The ousted president’s term will end on January 27.

“We can’t pretend nothing happened,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in Portugal on Tuesday, before leaving a summit of leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal, the Associate Press reported.

“If this state of affairs is allowed to remain, democracy will be at serious risk in Latin and Central America.”

Though endorsed by the United States, the presidential election has failed to end the five-month long political crisis in the country.

Zelaya’s supporters have vowed to stage a protest outside the Congress. Zelaya says he will not accept any negotiations with the de facto regime.