Xiomara Castro announced that if she wins the presidential elections in November, she will call for a new Constituent Assembly to reform the Constitution.

By Roberto Morejón

Honduras closed the year in political calm, in the midst of the transition from a conservative to a progressive government, as a result of the recent elections.

Many Hondurans contrast the present calm with the crisis of the previous election, in 2017, when current President Juan Orlando Hernández was proclaimed re-elected, under accusations of fraud and after controversial legal reforms.

Now the winner is Xiomara Castro's Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre), who in alliance with Salvador Nasralla's Salvador Party of Honduras, took a 15-point lead over the ruling National Party.

Perhaps because of this overwhelming victory and the expectations of the workers, social and peasant movements to achieve progress with the new government as of January 27, the mood is calm.

The President elect and her transition team are holding meetings with sectors of the country, including private enterprise, to know the main demands, many of them included in the platform of the winning party. 

But Xiomara Castro will have hurdles to overcome, among them the fact that her party will NOT have a simple majority in Congress and will have to negotiate with the opposition Liberal Party to promote initiatives.

The next Honduran administration will have to take into account problems such as unemployment, debt, fiscal policy, economic difficulties and corruption, issues prioritized by the elected President.

For its part, the peasant movement demands an agrarian reform, as the countryside suffers from more than 20 years of neoliberal experiments.

Likewise, the triumphant coalition in the recent vote will have to closely monitor the phenomenon of the migrant caravans, made up mainly of Hondurans, from the incoming executive.

They are fleeing unemployment, the lack of opportunities for young people and the violence unleashed by gangs, a phenomenon that is still pressing, although outgoing President Juan Orlando Hernandez claims to have achieved a decline.

In addition to these setbacks, the impact of two hurricanes in a short period of time left a trail of destruction in Honduras. 

As can be seen, the agenda of the new president-elect is going to be full, but in her favor is the decision to listen to the opinions of all the stakeholders.