Ousted President Manuel Zelaya (C) meets with presidential candidates (L to R), Bernard Martinez of the Innovation and Democratic Unity Party, Elvin Santos of the Liberal party, Porfirio Lobo of the National party, and Felicito Avila of the Christian Democracy party, inside the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, September 24, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters File Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    By Alejandra del Palacio

    TEGUCIGALPA, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Honduras is expected to hold elections on Sunday to choose a new president, three vice presidents, deputies for the Congress, mayors and deputies to the Central American Parliament, amid a political crisis triggered by a military-backed coup which ousted President Manuel Zelaya to Costa Rica on June 28.

    The followings are the leading presidential candidates for the Sunday elections.

    -- Porfirio Lobo, candidate for the National Party of Honduras (PNH), ranked first with 37 percent in preference statistics in the latest opinion poll published in October by local press.

    Lobo was born on Dec. 22, 1947 in Trujilo, Honduras. He graduated with a MBA degree at the University of Miami, the United States.

    Lobo started his political career at 19 as a young political leader in Olancho, and became a deputy in the National Congress of Honduras in 1990. He was president of the National Congress from 2002 to 2006.

    During the 2005 presidential elections, he was second to ousted President Manuel Zelaya with 46 percent of the vote. Since December 2008, he has been presidential candidate of the PNH.

    He is against the Constituent Assembly and supports the removal and exile of Zelaya on June 28. He is also a supporter of the de facto Leader Roberto Micheletti.

    Lobo pledged "to bring peace to the united nation of the Honduran family. He also promised better education, an efficient health system, better opportunity for employment and greater security, while vowing to offer more assistance to the country's farm production.

    He has not made clear his views on Zelaya's restitution in power, which will be decided on Dec. 2 by the Honduran Congress.

    -- Elvin Ernesto Santos Ordonez, the candidate for the Liberal Party (PL), was ranked the second in the October opinion polls, with 21 percent of preference statistics.

    Santos was born on Jan. 18, 1963 in the capital city of Tegucigalpa. He graduated as a civil engineering major from the University of Lamar in Texas, the United States.

    Although a longtime activist in Liberal Party's campaigns since a young age, he has never been the party leader.

    In 2005, he was the coordinator of Zelaya's presidential campaign in the Francisco Morazan department, the coordinator of the electoral commission and Zelaya's partner for those elections.

    He was vice president from January 2006 to December 2008. Then he resigned to run as presidential candidate for his party.

    Santos is also the chief executive officer of his family company called "Santos y Asociados," a major contractor with the Honduran Public Works, Transportation and Housing Ministry, triggering suspicion of conflict of interest.

    Santos said a solution to the country's current political crisis lies in his winning of the presidential race. .

    He proposed a strategy of integral security without impunity to strengthen the manufacturing and services sectors, to support the integral development of people and families, as well as a better public management.

    He has so far not taken a stand on Zelaya's restitution in power.

    -- Felicito Avila, 60, is the candidate for the Christian Democracy Party. He is a professor and a union leader.

    He served as general secretary of the General Central of Workers (CGT), one of the main unions of Honduras, from 1977 to 2001.

    Avila calls for order, harmony, economic development and social justice and the need for Honduras to take actions within the framework of law without violating people's rights to peace, justice and freedom.