The June 2009 military coup that ousted democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya resulted in the international isolation of the interim successor government of Roberto Micheletti and months of political turmoil that did not subside until after the election of current President Porfirio Lobo in November 2009. Honduran politics have stabilized in some important respects since Lobo's inauguration: The economy has slowly recovered, and the 2011 Cartagena Accord signed by Lobo and Zelaya has politically reintegrated the leftist former president via his new Liberty and Refoundation Party (LIBRE) and reinstated Honduras in the Organization of American States (OAS). However, Honduras' reconstructed democracy is fragile. Rising crime and unrelieved poverty have decimated President Lobo's approval ratings and encouraged widespread distrust of democratic institutions. To the extent that Zelaya's LIBRE is able to capitalize on this discontent in the upcoming 2013 elections, these institutions will be seriously tested.
