Hondurans faced the threat of further political violence yesterday and the collapse of November elections after a deal between the ousted President and the coup-plotters who exiled him in June collapsed.

Hopes for a return to normality were scuttled after Manuel Zelaya said that the deal, which he greeted with optimism a week ago, was dead.

The agreement, touted as providing for Mr Zelaya’s reinstatement, foundered after his opponents in Congress stalled on the required vote and de facto leader, Roberto Micheletti, announced a new government without the deposed leader.

Speaking from the Brazilian Embassy in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, where he has been since his surprise return to the country on September 21, Mr Zelaya suggested that his rival’s accession to the deal had been a charade.

“It’s absurd what they are doing, trying to mock all of us, the people who elected me and the international community that supports me,” he said on Radio Globo. “We’ve decided not to continue this theatre with Mr Micheletti.”

The deal was brokered after Washington sent its top Latin American envoy to push for an end to the four months of political violence after the June 28 coup.

Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, had called the agreement a victory for democracy in the region, praising Honduras for having “overcome such a crisis through negotiation and dialogue”.

Political analysts said that Washington had failed to fully appreciate the dynamics of Honduran politics, under which Mr Micheletti and Mr Zelaya claimed different interpretations of the deal.

Mr Zelaya believed that the Thursday deadline for the formation of a government meant that Congress would vote on his reinstatement before then — but Mr Micheletti said that the pact required only the installation of a unity Cabinet and that there was no deadline for Congress to meet.

Although Mr Micheletti said initially that he was happy to return to the status quo before the coup, congressmen opposed to Mr Zelaya’s return stalled the vote, asking for an opinion from the Supreme Court.

On Thursday the interim leader claimed to have complied with the agreement by naming a so-called unity Cabinet but without including any Zelaya ministers.

Observers said that politicians were convinced that if they stalled until the election the world would recognise a new Honduran leader and lift sanctions imposed after the coup.

US comments on Tuesday that Mr Zelaya’s reinstatement was not essential to the deal appeared to cement that view.

“They are hoping governments of other countries will decide to recognise results of the election, even if they don’t return Zelaya,” Alvaro Calix, a political analyst, said.

Mr Zelaya called on Hondurans to boycott the vote. Jorge Reina, a negotiator for the president, accused the interim government of preparing “a great electoral fraud this November”.

Zelaya supporters protested outside Congress as frustrations turned violent again. A grenade was thrown at a pro-Micheletti television station on Wednesday and there was an explosion in a public lavatory on Thursday. No one was hurt severely.

The left-wing Mr Zelaya was marched on to an aircraft by soldiers after opponents claimed that he was trying to change the constitution to allow for his re-election. He denies that, saying the country’s elite was rattled by his pro-poor policies and alliance with Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan socialist President.

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