Non-Subscriber Extract
Bloodless Honduran coup deposes president
29 June 2009
The coup - effectively the result of a congressional-military alliance against the executive - followed a week of rapidly increasing political tension over Zelaya's plans to hold a national referendum on 28 June that had been ruled illegal by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and the Supreme Court of Justice.
The plebisicite would have asked the electorate whether a "fourth ballot box" should be added to scheduled presidential and legislative elections on 29 November to cover a question on constitutional reform, theoretically raising the possibility of Zelaya seeking re-election beyond the currently permitted single term.
The coup was precipitated by the military's refusal to provide logistical assistance for the ballot that Zelaya had planned for 28 June, citing court rulings on the plebiscite's supposed illegality. Subsequently, on 23 June, Congress passed a law effectively outlawing Zelaya's planned referendum, while members of the former president's own Liberal Party also expressed their opposition to his plans.