By Thelma Mejía
TEGUCIGALPA, Feb 6 1997 (IPS)

Nora Melgar has made political history in Honduras. After 175 years, she is the first women to ever run for President of this country.

Melgar, who is standing as a candidate for the Conservative Party (PN), hopes to become the country’s first Chief of State on November 30 when two and half million Hondurans go to the polls.

Launching her political campaign this week, in her customary halting and plain language, she promised to combat poverty and corruption in accordance with the same economic course her party has followed during the last seven years.

Melgar’s Conservative Party, however, is tainted by hints of corruption among its politicians. This follows the move by ex- president Rafael Callejas (1990-1994) to position himself on the CP ticket as one of Melgar’s deputies – and thus obtain political immunity and escape prosecutors seeking to charge him on five specific allegations of corruption.

In launching her campaign, Melgar said that she will promote a government that “will serve the people and not take advantage of them.” Her political platform is based on the “ongoing struggle against corruption,” she said.

Women will not be “mere spectators” as “we have been throughout all the political processes we have lived through,” Melgar proclaimed. “Since we became an independent nation 175 years ago, no woman has managed to break the myth whereby women do not aspire to the presidency, and I feel very proud of being the first to promote this aspect of gender equality.”

A teacher by profession, Melgar was also the first womean to become mayor of Tegucigalpa, a position she held seven years ago. Her tenure was notable for the contact she maintained with her political base. She is the widow of dictator Juan Alberto Melgar, who was president of Honduras from 1975 until 1978.

Melgar will pit her political strength against the presidential candidate of the ruling Liberal Party (PL), Carlos Flores, who also has a conservative streak, and who currently serves as president of the Legislative Chamber.

Flores, who for the second time is entering the presidential ring, characterizes himself as a quiet man who has little connection with traditional political constituencies. He promises a “new agenda” if elected to head a new government.

Preliminary polls give Flores a 15 percent advantage over Melgar, and an even greater lead over the other three candidates. Politicial observers say Melgar appears to be betting on garnering the women’s vote – which represents 52 percent of the Honduran population of 5.5 million people.

The electoral contest is unique for Honduras, pitting a woman with a rural background against a male graduate of several universities in the United States – a man who has both economic and political power as well as considerable media influence.

Already , press cartoons have lampooned Melgar because of her fractured pronunciation of some words while Flores is represented as a polished campaigner, endowed with all the social graces.

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