Manuel Zelaya, the ousted Honduran president, has said he is hopeful that his country's political crisis will soon be over. Speaking to Al Jazeera in an interview broadcast on Sunday, Zelaya called for congress to "reverse the coup" that forced him from power."If the national congress decides to maintain the coup the crisis will continue. If the congress reverses the coup, the crisis will be over," he said by telephone from the Honduran capital.
Zelaya, who was removed from office in June, has been holed up in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa since he sneaked back into the country over a month ago. His supporters and those of the de facto government have been at odds for four months, but an agreement on Friday raised the possibility that Zelaya could be returned to power ahead of elections in November, as long as congress agrees.
Zelaya told Al Jazeera that he was satisfied with the proposed agreement, which he hoped will see him restored to the presidency before the vote on November 29. "It's a deal that's on a path to succeed," he said.
"Roberto Michiletti [the de facto president of Honduras] is the president of congress and he is the one who signed the accord."
But there is confusion over when congress will meet to sign off on the deal. Comments by Arturo Corrales, a negotiator for the de facto government, soon after the proposed agreement was struck suggested that congress might not discuss the issue before the November 29 elections.
No date has been set for Congress to meet on the issue, but the earliest the deal could be debated is Tuesday, legislators said. Monday is a holiday in Honduras, and many legislators are busy campaigning for the upcoming vote that will also elect a successor to Zelaya.
Lucia Newman, Al Jazeera's Latin America editor, said Zelaya was relying on the political opposition's increasing popularity in the build up to the elections to push congress into agreeing the deal.
"I'm surprised that he's that optimistic, but there is a calculation here - he's depending on the fact his opponents in congress, the opposition party, are leading very substantially in the polls for the up coming election," she said. "The calculation is that unless President Zelaya is reinstated, his supporters will boycott those elections. That will take away legitimacy from those elections and it will make it very difficult for the next government to govern without instability."
Many countries have warned they would not accept the elections if the June coup is not undone - suggesting that if congress approves the pact to reinstate Zelaya, it would win international recognition for the elections.