🔗 Share this article

The centrist candidate in Honduras's knife-edge presidential election, Salvador Nasralla, has alleged "corrupt people" of manipulating the vote count in the Central American nation.

Over a week after the election, the electoral council has yet to announce a winner, but the latest results suggest that Nasry "Tito" Asfura, the right-wing contender backed by US President Donald Trump, holds a slim advantage.

Nasralla, who had been leading earlier on before falling to second place, stated on social media: "This is theft."

The left-wing candidate trailing in third, Rixi Moncada, has demanded the vote to be invalidated and accused Trump of the election.

Narrow Results and Growing Frustration

With 98.77% of votes counted, Asfura had just over forty percent of the vote, leading Nasralla with under forty percent and Moncada with 19.32%, per the National Electoral Council's (CNE) update.

Frustration has been growing over the last week as the counting was repeatedly halted, sometimes for days on end.

Officials from the CNE attributed the delays to "technical problems."

They have also cautioned that thousands of voting records with "irregularities" still need to be reviewed.

Trump's Endorsement and Surprise Pardon

The run-up to the election was overshadowed by Trump's endorsement of Nasry "Tito" Asfura.

Just days before the vote, Trump threw his weight behind the former mayor of Tegucigalpa, saying that "We can work together to fight the drug traffickers."

"We will be very supportive should Asfura win, but the United States will not be throwing good money after bad, because a poor choice can only bring catastrophic results," Trump added.

In a surprise move two days before the election, Trump also granted clemency to jailed former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who stems from the same party as Asfura.

Hernández was in the midst of a 45-year prison sentence in the US for trafficking cocaine.

His pardon and subsequent release has stunned Honduran authorities, who issued an international arrest warrant for Hernández, who remains in the US.

Rising Tensions and Claims of Meddling

At the same time, the situation has grown more tense as the lead in the vote count changed a number of times.

Trump accused the CNE of "seeking to alter" the outcome when Nasralla pulled past Asfura early on.

"If they do, there will be hell to pay," the US president said without providing evidence of any fraud.

Ever since the Trump-endorsed Asfura took the lead, it has been his two rivals alleging misconduct.

Rixi Moncada's Libre party called for the "complete cancellation" of the elections.

It also called on its supporters to protest publicly against what it called "meddling and pressure of the President of the United States."

Nasralla blamed unnamed "corrupt ones" for "delaying the counting process."

According to the nation's regulations, the CNE has until 30 December to announce a victor.