Honduras President Wants To Break Term Limit Just Once

TEGUCIGALPA, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Nov, 2016 ) : Honduras's president, Juan Orlando Hernandez, said Wednesday he wants to put aside a constitutional bar on his re-election just once, and would not stand again after elections in a year's time.

"I promise before the Honduran people to aspire to a single period of government," beyond his current four-year term, the 48-year-old leader told reporters. His bid to win another mandate in November 2017 is a controversial one in Honduras.

A previous president, Manuel Zelaya, was ousted in 2009 after he tried to hold a non-binding referendum on ending the one-term limit.

The Central American nation's 1982 constitution limits presidents to a single term.

It even strips the citizenship of anyone who promotes changing the law to allow re-election. But Hernandez's National Party, which also controls Congress, says a Supreme Court ruling last year allows him to stand for a new term. The opposition disagrees, arguing the court does not have that power.