2009 Honduran constitutional crisis

The 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis was a political crisis in Honduras over plans by President Manuel Zelaya to hold a popular referendum to either rewrite the Constitution of Honduras or write a new one.

Zelaya's planned vote to change the constitution faced opposition from a majority of the government, including the Supreme Court of Honduras and prominent members of Zelaya's Liberal Party, as it could lead to the re-election of Presidents which is permanently outlawed by the Honduran constitution. The Supreme Court upheld a lower court injunction against the referendum. A crisis occurred as the Constitution of Honduras had no process for dealing with this situation, and there were no clear procedures for removing or prosecuting a sitting President.

On the morning of 28 June 2009, Zelaya was removed in a coup d’état by the Honduran Armed Forces, when approximately 100 soldiers stormed the President's residence in Tegucigalpa and exiled him to Costa Rica. The National Congress voted to remove Zelaya as President, having read without objection a purported letter of resignation, which Zelaya stated was forged. Roberto Micheletti, the President of Congress and next in the presidential line of succession, was sworn in as interim president. Micheletti declared a "state of exception" on 1 July, suspending civil liberties and various curfews were imposed.