FACTBOX: Honduras' two presidents: one ousted, one de facto

(Reuters) - Honduras holds elections on Sunday to pick a new president who might lead the country out of a crisis caused by a June coup.

Neither ousted President Manuel Zelaya nor rival Roberto Micheletti, the country's de facto leader, are running for office, which could give a new president a chance to take Honduras beyond the political gridlock that has divided the Central American country and cut off international aid.

Zelaya says the elections are invalid because they will give legitimacy to Micheletti's post-coup administration. Some Latin American countries agree with Zelaya and say they will not recognize the result.

Here are some facts about the two principal players in Honduras' months-long crisis:

OUSTED PRESIDENT MANUEL ZELAYA

* A former logging magnate from the tough ranching region of Olancho, the 57-year-old Zelaya sports a signature cowboy hat and a bushy mustache and won the 2005 elections as a moderate liberal. Originally close to Honduras' ruling elite, he moved further left once in office, seeking closer ties with Venezuela's socialist president, Hugo Chavez, and echoing that leader's populist rhetoric and marathon news conferences.

* Zelaya clashed with the Supreme Court, Congress and the military by floating the idea of changing the constitution. Critics said the move was a veiled attempt to extend presidential term limits and keep himself in power. He denies the charge. Soldiers burst into his home at dawn on June 28, the day he planned to hold an unofficial vote on the issue, and flew him into exile in Costa Rica in his pajamas.

* During months in exile, Zelaya traveled tirelessly, pleading with foreign governments to tighten the screws on Micheletti. Zelaya has been camped out with his family and a handful of supporters in the heavily guarded Brazilian Embassy since a surprise return in September. Soldiers harassed him by blasting the compound with loud music and animal noises one night.

DE FACTO LEADER ROBERTO MICHELETTI

* Micheletti, 66, is one of nine children of an Italian immigrant father. He joined the army and was briefly a member of an elite presidential guard. A Roman Catholic, he often asks Hondurans to pray for peace in appearances on state television. After the coup was roundly condemned by world leaders, Micheletti won points locally for standing up to what some Hondurans see as foreign meddling.

* Gruff, white-haired Micheletti was first elected to Congress nearly 30 years ago and once tried to run for president but failed to win his party's nomination. He himself supported a bill to allow presidential re-election in 1985. The proposal caused a political uproar and it was dropped when soldiers were sent to the legislature to restore order.

* A member of Zelaya's Liberal Party, Micheletti was sworn in as the interim president the day of the coup. He maintains Zelaya's ouster was a legal transition of power and accuses his rival of corruption. He says Zelaya will be arrested if he sets foot outside the embassy. (Reporting by Mica Rosenberg in Tegucigalpa)