Rev. Kyle Meyaard-Schaap
Executive Director, ASJ-US
Defending Honduran Democracy in Washington D.C.
June 27, 2025
Honduran civil society works together for fair elections in 2025
On June 16, after some flight delays and frustration, a group of powerful Honduran leaders were in Washington, D.C. ready to advocate for their country. They included the head of the largest university in Honduras, the President and Vice President of the Honduran equivalent of the Chamber of Commerce, a representative of the Archbishop of Tegucigalpa and the head of the Protestant Church of Honduras, a nationally-renowned journalist, and leaders from ASJ-Honduras and ASJ-US.
We were there for one simple purpose: to raise awareness about Honduras’ upcoming election on November 30, and to ask for support in ensuring a free, fair, and transparent election.
Over two days, we met with representatives from the State Department, three Senate offices, three House offices, and more than 10 NGOs.
Here’s what we learned:
List of Services
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Washington is paying attention to Honduras:List Item 1
Across all of our meetings, we consistently heard that officials are aware of the risks posed by the ruling government to a free and fair election and are committed to advocating for a transparent process. This includes election observer missions from the Department of State and the Organization of American States.
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There is a bipartisan bill in the works to support the Honduran election:List Item 2
Some of the Congressional offices we met with shared with us that they were working on language for a bipartisan bill to provide funding for election observing this fall in Honduras, and sanctions if the process proves to be irregular. This was news to our group, and a huge encouragement. Yesterday, the bill was introduced in the House of Representatives.We will share more information about this bill in the days ahead, including how you can use your voice to support it.
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Powerful electoral observation is within reach:List Item 3
The Network to Defend Democracy–the alliance being led by ASJ and represented by these leaders–is working to recruit thousands of volunteer election observers to ensure a fair election in November. Our group spent time learning from experts about a powerful electoral observation methodology that uses statistical analysis to accurately project election results. We will be implementing this methodology in November to provide good data on election night and in the days after to ensure that the will of the Honduran people will be honored.
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Your voice made a difference:List Item 4
Almost 200 of our supporters signed a letter in support of the delegation’s visit. At each meeting, we hand-delivered this letter to staff. Each time, they were surprised to learn about the depth of support for Honduras from our ASJ community here in the US and enthusiastic to receive the letter.
This won’t be our last visit to DC before the November elections, nor will it be the last chance for you to add your voice to our efforts to advocate for a fair process free from manipulation. If you’d like to be the first to know about future advocacy opportunities, you can sign up for our advocacy mailing list:
Onward,
Thank You for Moving Forward With Us this Summer!
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Dear Friend, On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of Hondurans flooded their streets with prayer and peaceful demonstration. Reports from our team members who attended said it was like an inspirational sea of people all wanting the same thing for their country: peace. One of our ASJ-US colleagues said he walked past Pentecostals dancing and playing music, a woman praying the rosary, nuns walking, and priests and altar boys in full robes–all walking in the same space together for peace.
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