tive divisions: 18 departments (departamentos,
singular--departamento); Atlantida, Choluteca, Colon, Comayagua, Copan,
Cortes, El Paraiso, Francisco Morazan, Gracias a Dios, Intibuca,
Islas de la Bahia, La Paz, Lempira, Ocotepeque, Olancho, Santa Barbara,
Valle, Yoro

Independence: 15 September 1821 (from Spain)

Constitution: 11 January 1982, effective 20 January 1982

Legal system: rooted in Roman and Spanish civil law; some influence of
English common law; accepts ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

National holiday: Independence Day, 15 September (1821)

Executive branch: president, Council of Ministers (cabinet)

Legislative branch: unicameral National Congress (Congreso Nacional)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justica)

Leaders:
Chief of State and Head of Government--Rafael Leonardo CALLEJAS
Romero (since 26 January 1990)

Political parties and leaders: Liberal Party (PLH)--faction leaders,
Carlos Flores Facusse (leader of Florista Liberal Movement), Carlos Montoya
(Azconista subfaction), Ramon Villeda Bermudez and Jorge Arturo Reina (M-Lider
faction); National Party (PNH), Ricardo Maduro, party president; PNH
faction leaders--Oswaldo Ramos Soto and Rafael Leonardo Callejas
(Monarca faction); National Innovation and Unity Party-Social
Democrats (PINU-SD), Enrique Aguilar Cerrato Paz; Christian Democratic
Party (PDCH), Jorge Illescas; Democratic Action (AD), Walter Lopez
Reyes

Suffrage: universal and compulsory at age 18

Elections:
President--last held on 26 November 1989 (next to be held
November 1993);
results--Leonardo Rafael Callejas (PNH) 51%,
Jose Azcona Hoyo (PLH) 43.3%, others 5.7%;

National Congress--last held on 24 November 1985 (next to be held
November 1993);
results--PLH 51%, PNH 45%, PDCH 1.9%, PINU 1.5%, others 0.65;
seats--(134 total) PLH 62, PNH 71, PINU 1

Communists: up to 1,500; Honduran leftist groups--Communist Party of
Honduras (PCH), Party for the Transformation of Honduras (PTH),
Morazanist Front for the Liberation of Honduras (FMLH), People's
Revolutionary Union/Popular Liberation Movement (URP/MPL), Popular
Revolutionary Forces-Lorenzo Zelaya (FPR/LZ), Socialist Party of Honduras
Central American Workers Revolutionary Party (PASO/PRTC)

Other political or pressure groups: National Association of Honduran
Campesinos (ANACH), Honduran Council of Private Enterprise (COHEP),
Confederation of Honduran Workers (CTH), National Union of Campes