Honduran Congress elects mostly opposition magistrates to new Supreme Court

The new magistrates, who will serve from 2023 to 2030, were elected from a slate of candidates negotiated between Honduras' major political parties. "We elected a Supreme Court of Justice independent of drug-trafficking, independent of organized crime, independent of the narco-dictatorship," said Libre party bench leader Rafael Sarmiento in the chamber, referring to the National party that ruled Honduras for eight years.

The Honduran Congress on Thursday elected mostly opposition magistrates to a new Supreme Court after several failed election attempts and a dispute with President Xiomara Castro's ruling leftist party that had threatened a political crisis. To a 15-member bench, lawmakers elected six magistrates from Castro's Liberty and Refoundation (Libre) party, five from extradited former president Juan Orlando Hernandez's conservative National Party and four from the Liberal Party.

The election follows four failed attempts since the end on January, as previous tries did not garner enough votes from congressional representatives. The new magistrates, who will serve from 2023 to 2030, were elected from a slate of candidates negotiated between Honduras' major political parties.

"We elected a Supreme Court of Justice independent of drug-trafficking, independent of organized crime, independent of the narco-dictatorship," said Libre party bench leader Rafael Sarmiento in the chamber, referring to the National party that ruled Honduras for eight years. The Libre party, which first came to power in January 2022 after winning an election in late 2021, initially claimed control of the Supreme Court with eight justices, which was opposed by Hernandez's National Party and the Liberal Party.

The outgoing Supreme Court had been controlled by Hernandez, who is awaiting trial on drug trafficking charges in New York, and a faction of the Liberal party, according to analysts and anti-corruption organizations. National Party bench leader Tomas Zambrano, however hailed the results in which Castro's Libre did not hold a majority. "We are not going to a national constituent assembly to promote their socialist ideological plans," he said.

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