Elvin Ernesto Santos Ordóñez (born in Tegucigalpa

Tegucigalpa

Tegucigalpa , and commonly referred as Tegus , is the capital of Honduras and seat of government of the Republic, along with its twin sister Comayagüela. Founded on September 29, 1578 by the Spanish, it became the country's capital on October 30, 1880 under President Marco Aurelio Soto...

, 18 January 1963) was Vice President

Vice President of Honduras

Vice President of Honduras is the second highest political position in Honduras. According to the current constitution, the President and Vice-President are elected in the same ticket...

 of Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

 between 27 January 2006 and 18 November 2008, when he resigned to stand as a Liberal Party

Liberal Party of Honduras

The Liberal Party of Honduras is a centre-left liberal political party in Honduras that was founded in 1891. The party is a member of the Liberal International...

 candidate for the Presidency

President of Honduras

This page lists the Presidents of Honduras.Colonial Honduras declared its independence from Spain on 15 September 1821. From 5 January 1822 to 1 July 1823, Honduras was part of the First Mexican Empire of Agustín de Iturbide....

 in the 2009 elections

Honduran general election, 2009

The Honduran general election, 2009 was held in Honduras on 29 November 2009, including presidential, parliamentary and local elections. Voters went to the polls to elect:*A new President of Honduras to serve a four-year term starting January 27, 2010....

. For the 2005 election

Honduran general election, 2005

General elections were held in Honduras to elect the President of Honduras, Vice-President, and deputies to the National Congress of Honduras on 27 November, 2005. For the 2005 election the constitution was amended to create a single vice-president...

 the constitution was amended to create a single vice-president. (Hondurans previously elected three 'presidential designates' on a ticket along with the presidential candidate.) Although Santos served as Vice President under the presidency of Manuel Zelaya

Manuel Zelaya

José Manuel Zelaya Rosales is a politician who was President of Honduras from January 27, 2006 until June 28, 2009. The eldest son of a wealthy businessman, he inherited his father's nickname "Mel," and, before entering politics, was involved in his family's logging and timber businesses.Elected...

, he distanced himself from Zelaya since there were conflicts between the two politicians. He was also against the fourth ballot box referendum

Honduran fourth ballot box referendum

The cuarta urna or fourth ballot box referendum was a plan by Honduran president Manuel Zelaya to run a non-binding referendum to consult the public regarding the administration of a second, binding referendum to convoke a constitutional assembly, which was planned to be polled concurrently with...

 that Zelaya promoted.

Biography

Elvin Santos is the son of Elvin Santos Lozano, an engineer, and Sonia Ordóñez de Santos.
Santos has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from Lamar University

Lamar University

Lamar University, often referred to as Lamar or LU, is a comprehensive coeducational public research university located in Beaumont, Texas, United States. Lamar confers bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees and is classified as a Doctoral Research University by the Carnegie Commission on Higher...

 in Beaumont, Texas. He also served as Honduran Consul in Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

.

He is married to Becky Manzanares de Santos and has four children Elvin, Rebeca, Adrian and Natalia. He has only recently entered the political arena. He is the CEO of the construction company owned by his family, Santos y Compañia, which employs approximately 1,200 people. The company has various contracts with the Secretaría de Obras Públicas Transporte y Vivienda (SOPTRAVI), for the maintenance of public infrastructure and the construction of the ring-road in Tegucigalpa. This situation has led to accusations of conflict of interest.

Santos has been a member of the Honduran Council of Private Enterprise

Honduran Council of Private Enterprise

The Honduran Council of Private Enterprise is a business trade organization in Honduras. COHEP is the largest such trade organization in the country, and is one of the three private organizations in Honduras proposes candidates for the Supreme Court of Honduras...

 (COHEP).

2009 Honduran general election

Santos received the Liberal Party's nomination in December after he resigned as Vice President to run for President of Honduras in the November 2009 elections. Mauricio Villeda Bermudez, who defeated Roberto Micheletti

Roberto Micheletti

Roberto Micheletti Baín is a former de facto president of Honduras who served as a result of the 2009 coup d'état. The Honduran military was ordered by the Supreme Court to forcefully detain President Manuel Zelaya once the Court stated he was violating the Honduran constitution; Zelaya was exiled...

 in the primary, resigned to allow Santos become the candidate. On November 29, 2009, Santos lost the election against his opponent Porfirio Lobo Sosa, as predicted by the polls, by a considerable difference of 17.75%.