Vice President of Honduras

The vice presidents of Honduras, officially the Designates to the Presidency (Spanish: Designados a la Presidencia), is the second highest political position in Honduras. According to the current constitution, the president and vice-presidents are elected in the same ticket. From 1957 to 2006 and from 2010 onwards there are positions of first, second, and third vice-president commonly known as the presidential designates (Spanish: designados presidenciales).

Designates to the Presidency of the Republic of Honduras
Designados a la Presidencia de la República de Honduras
Coat of arms of Honduras
Incumbent Doris Gutiérrez Renato Florentino since 27 January 2022
Style	Mr./Madame Vice President (informal) The Most Excellent and His/Her Excellency[1] (formal)
Term length	4 years, non-renewable[2][3]
Inaugural holder	Marcelino Ponce Martínez, Céleo Arias Moncada, and Arturo Rendón Pineda (1982)
Formation	27 January 1982 (current)

Only during the Zelaya administration the vice-presidential position was held by one person, since the Congress reformed the Constitution in 2008 for that the vice-presidential charge would be held again by three persons. The position of vice president commissioner was created by former President Manuel Zelaya after Vice President Elvin Santos resigned in late 2008.^[4]

Functions and duties

The only constitutional duty of the vice presidents involves performing the functions of the president in their absence, usually due to incapacitation (one of the vice presidents is selected by the president to serve in the role on an temporary basis until the president's return). If the absence is considered to be permanent, then one of the three vicepresidents, selected by the National Congress, will fulfill the functions of the president until the end of the term. If all the vicepresidents are absent, the president of the National Congress takes over as acting president, and if the president of the National Congress is also absent then the president of the Supreme Court will become acting president until the end of the term.

Vice presidents are eligible to be impeached by the National Congress for poor performance or misconduct. Vice presidents are also not allowed to remain outside the country for more than 15 days without the permission of the National Congress.

Requirements and restrictions

The requirements to be a vice president are the same as that of the president. A candidate must be Honduran by birth, be over the age of 30, have full civic rights, and may not be an active member of the leadership of any established religion.

Vice presidents may not be elected president while serving in the role, or within six months after the end of their term or resignation. Vice presidents can also not be elected as a deputy of the National Congress while serving in office.

History

The following is a history of officeholders:^[5]

1839–1954

Term	President	Vice president	Notes
1839–1841	Francisco Zelaya y Ayes	Francisco Alvarado
1841–1843	Francisco Ferrera	Coronado Chávez	[6]
1843–1844	Francisco Ferrera	Felipe Jáuregui
1847	Francisco Ferrera	Coronado Chávez	[6]
1848–1850	Juan Lindo	Felipe Bustillo	[6]
1852–1855	José Trinidad Cabañas	José Santiago Bueso	[6]
1855	José Santiago Bueso	Juan López	[6]
1855	José Santiago Bueso	Francisco de Aguilar	[6]
1856–1860	José Santos Guardiola	José María Lazo Guillén	[6]
1860–1862	José Santos Guardiola	Victoriano Castellanos	[6]
1863	José María Medina	Francisco Inestroza	[6]
1864–1865	José María Medina	Florencio Xatruch	[6]
1865–1866	José María Medina	Juan Francisco López Aguirre	[6]
1870	José María Medina	Crescencio Gómez	[6]
1891–1893	Ponciano Leiva	Rosendo Agüero Ariza	[6]
1895–1899	Policarpo Bonilla	Manuel Bonilla	[7][6]
1899–1903	Terencio Sierra	José María Reina	[6]
1903	Juan Ángel Arias Boquín	Máximo Betancourt Rosales
1903–1907	Manuel Bonilla	Miguel R. Dávila	[7][6]
1908	Miguel R. Dávila	Máximo Betancourt Rosales	[8][6]
1908–1911	Miguel R. Dávila	Dionysius Gutiérrez	[8]
1912–1913	Manuel Bonilla	Francisco Bertrand	[7][6]
1913–1915	Francisco Bertrand	Nazario Soriano	[9][6]
1916–1919	Francisco Bertrand	Alberto Membreño Vásquez	[9][6]
1920–1924	Rafael López Gutiérrez	José María Ochoa	[10][6]
1924	Rafael López Gutiérrez	Francisco Bueso
1925–1929	Miguel Paz Barahona	Presentación Quezada	[11][6]
1929–1933	Vicente Mejía Colindres	Rafael Díaz Chávez	[6]
1933–1949	Tiburcio Carías Andino	Abraham Williams Calderón	[12][6]
1949–1954	Juan Manuel Gálvez	Julio Lozano Díaz	[13][6]

1957–1972 (Military Era)

Term	President	First presidential designate	Second presidential designate	Third presidential designate	Notes
1957–1963	Ramon Villeda Morales	José Mejía Arellano	Francisco Milla Bermúdez	Juan Miguel Mejía	[14]
1965–1971	Oswaldo López Arellano	Ricardo Zúñiga Agustinus	Horacio Moya Posas	Napoleón Alcerro Oliva	[15]
1971–1972	Ramón Ernesto Cruz Uclés	René Bendaña Meza	Eugenio Matute Canizales	Tiburcio Carías Castillo	[16]

Constitutional vice presidents (since 1982)

Presidential designates (1982–2006)

Term	President	First presidential designate	Second presidential designate	Third presidential designate	Notes
1982–1986	Roberto Suazo Cordova	Marcelino Ponce Martínez	Céleo Arias Moncada	Arturo Rendón Pineda	[17]
1986–1990	José Azcona del Hoyo	Alfredo Fortín Inestroza	José Pineda Gómez	Jaime Rosenthal	Rosenthal left office in 1989[18]
1990–1994	Rafael Leonardo Callejas	Jacobo Hernández Cruz	Marco Tulio Cruz	Roberto Martínez Lozano	[19]
1994–1998	Carlos Roberto Reina	Walter López Reyes	Juan de la Cruz Avelar Leiva	Guadalupe Jerezano Mejía	[20]
1998–2002	Carlos Roberto Flores	William Handal Raudales	Gladys Caballero de Arévalo	Hector Vidal Cerrato Hernandez	[21]
2002–2006	Ricardo Maduro	Vicente Williams Agasse	Armida Villela de López Contreras	José Alberto Díaz Lobo

Vice-president and presidential commissioner (2006–2010)

Before the 2005 elections, the Honduran Congress reformed the Constitution for that the charge of vice-president may be held by only one person.

Term	President	Vice president	Notes
2006–2009	Manuel Zelaya	Elvin Santos (27 January 2006 – 18 November 2008[22]) Unoccupied (18 November 2008 – 1 February 2009) Arístides Mejía (1 February 2009[23] – 28 June 2009)	Elvin Santos resigned to pursue the presidency. Arístides Mejía didn't fully occupy the charge; he was a presidential commissioner, not a vice-president, since he was appointed by President Zelaya and not popularly elected; this equates to being a minister without portfolio.[24][25] He was deposed on 28 June 2009.
2009–2010	Roberto Micheletti	Unoccupied (28 June 2009 - 27 January 2010)	Acting President Roberto Micheletti did not appoint any presidential commissioner (like Manuel Zelaya did with Aristides Mejía) while he was occupying the Honduran presidency.

Presidential designates (2010–present)

In 2008, before the Honduran primary elections, the three posts of vice-presidents were restored by order of the Supreme Court which deemed their replacement with a single vice-president unconstitutional.^[22]

Term	President	First presidential designate	Second presidential designate	Third presidential designate	Notes
2010–2014	Porfirio Lobo Sosa	María Antonieta Guillén Vásquez	Samuel Armando Reyes Rendon	Victor Hugo Barnica	[6]
2014–2018	Juan Orlando Hernández	Ricardo Antonio Alvarez Arias	Ava Rossana Guevara Pinto	Lorena Enriqueta Herrera	[6]
2018–2022	Juan Orlando Hernández	Ricardo Antonio Alvarez Arias	Olga Margarita Alvarado Rodríguez	María Antonia Rivera Rosales	[26] [6]
2022–2026	Xiomara Castro	Salvador Nasralla	Doris Gutiérrez	Renato Florentino	Nasralla left office in 2024[27]

References

1. "Nasralla "Cancillería no me informó que fui invitado a la toma de poseción de Noboa"" (in Spanish). Semana. June 23, 2020. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
2. Tenorio, O. (27 January 2022). "Nueva presidenta de Honduras pedirá anular la reelección e integrará comisión, con ayuda de ONU, para investigar corrupción" [New President of Honduras will ask to annul re-election and will integrate a commission, with the help of the UN, to investigate corruption] (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 September 2022.
3. "De respaldar ilegal reelección y ser aliada de JOH, Heide Fulton saltó a reconocer estructura criminal corrupta" [From supporting illegal re-election and being an ally of JOH, Heide Fulton jumped to recognize a corrupt criminal structure] (in Spanish). Criterio.hn. 13 May 2022. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
4. "Untitled Document". Archived from the original on 2010-08-12. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-11-02. Retrieved 2009-11-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
6. San Martín F., José A. (17 November 2022). "Designados vicepresidentes - Diario La Tribuna". Archived from the original on 2022-11-17.
7. "..::Honduras Educacional::..Policarpo Bonilla Vásquez". Archived from the original on 2012-02-15.
8. "..::Honduras Educacional::.. Miguel R. Davila". Archived from the original on 2009-09-05. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
9. "..::Honduras Educacional::.. Francisco Bertrand Barahona". Archived from the original on 2009-05-19. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
10. "..::Honduras Educacional::.. Rafael López Gutierrez". Archived from the original on 2009-09-05. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
11. "..::Honduras Educacional::.. Miguel Paz Barahona". Archived from the original on 2009-09-05. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
12. "..::Honduras Educacional::.. Vicente Mejía Colindres". Archived from the original on 2009-05-03. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
13. "..::Honduras Educacional::.. Juan Manuel Gálvez". Archived from the original on 2009-03-11. Retrieved 2009-03-11.
14. "..::Honduras Educacional::.. Ramón Villeda Morales". Archived from the original on 2008-06-06. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
15. "..::Honduras Educacional::.. Oswaldo López Arellano". Archived from the original on 2012-02-15.
16. "..::Honduras Educacional::.. Ramón Ernesto Crúz". Archived from the original on 2012-02-15.
17. "..::Honduras Educacional::.. Roberto Suazo Córdova". Archived from the original on 2012-02-15.
18. "..::Honduras Educacional::.. José Simón Azcona Hoyo". Archived from the original on 2009-04-30. Retrieved 2009-04-30.
19. "..::Honduras Educacional::.. Rafael Leonardo Callejas". Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2013-09-15.
20. "..::Honduras Educacional::.. Carlos Roberto Reina Idíaquez". Archived from the original on 2012-02-15.
21. "..::Honduras Educacional::.. Carlos Roberto Flores Facusse". Archived from the original on 2012-02-15.
22. Elvin Santos renuncia a la Vicepresidencia (in spanish)
23. http://vicepresidencia.7allies.com/content/excelent%C3%ADsimo-comisionado-vicepresidente-de-la-rep%C3%BAblica-de-honduras-ar%C3%ADstides-mej%C3%AD-carranza ^{[permanent dead link]}
24. Honduras: Impugnan cargo de Arístides por violentar preceptos constitucionales (in spanish)
25. "Fiscalía investiga nombramiento de Arístides Mejía se determinará si la Presidencia violentó o no preceptos constitucionales (in Spanish)". Archived from the original on 2009-07-05. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
26. The CIA World Fact Book: Honduras Retrieved Feb 9, 2020
27. "El primer designado presidencial de Honduras renuncia a su cargo con miras a una candidatura en 2025 (in Spanish)". 2 April 2024. Retrieved 2024-04-02.