TEGUCIGALPA, Dec 2 (Reuters) – Salvador Nasralla, of the centrist Liberal Party, on Tuesday took a razor-thin lead in Honduras’ presidential election over Nasry Asfura, the conservative candidate backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, in a vote count plagued by delays and allegations of fraud.
The latest results released by the electoral authority around 6 p.m. (0100 GMT Wednesday) showed Nasralla on 40.13% and Asfura of the National Party on 39.71%, with around 68% of votes counted. The front runners were separated by just 9,129 votes. Asfura had previously been leading by around 500 votes when earlier results were released on Monday.
Rixi Moncada, of the ruling leftist LIBRE Party, was well behind in third place with 19.09%.
Earlier on Tuesday, Honduras’ electoral authority pleaded for calm as it scrambled to overcome a system failure that left about 20% of votes in the presidential election uncounted, as Trump alleged possible fraud and swore “there will be hell to pay” if results are altered.
On Monday the electoral body said Asfura and Nasralla were in a “technical tie” with each holding just under 40% of the vote and that votes would have to be counted by hand.
The initial rapid count system was beset by issues, the CNE electoral authority said in a statement on Tuesday. That had also resulted in problems with the web portal where results were meant to be updated in real time. The website was down much of Monday, causing tensions to rise in the tightly contested race, plagued by accusations of possible fraud before votes were even cast on Sunday.
As the count continues, former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez of the National Party was released from a U.S. prison on Monday, where he was serving a 45-year prison sentence for drug trafficking and firearms charges, a Federal Bureau of Prisons registry showed.
His release came after Trump urged Honduran voters to cast their ballots for the National Party candidate, Asfura, and said he would pardon Hernandez. A White House official confirmed on Tuesday that Trump had pardoned Hernandez.
Trump weighed in on Monday in a social media post in which he alleged, without evidence, that Honduras was “trying to change the results of their Presidential Election.”
“If they do there will be hell to pay! The people of Honduras voted in overwhelming numbers on November 30th,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
There was high voter turnout in Sunday’s election, which was peaceful across the country, according to the Organization of American States, which observed the vote. It said in a statement on Monday that it “was able to verify that the voting proceeded normally, except for isolated incidents in some municipalities of the country.”
But there are concerns that if the vote count drags on, the highly charged election environment could lead to protests and possible violence.
The electoral authority said it would now release information about the count directly to media and political parties to ensure the public was able to follow the results.
Former President Manuel Zelaya, who is also the husband of current President Xiomara Castro, lambasted Trump’s interference in the election, saying on X that it was an attempt to stop Moncada’s bid, and vowing the Honduran people would stand up for democracy. “We who fight for liberty are on our feet,” he wrote. “We are patriots and nobody yields.”
On Monday evening, Moncada said the elections were “still not lost” and alleged that the other parties had manipulated the process. She also denounced U.S. interference in the election.
Both Asfura and Nasralla have said they may resume diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which were severed in 2023. Such a move would mark the biggest diplomatic setback for China in the region for decades.
In Taipei on Wednesday, Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung told reporters that the island would actively engage with whoever was elected.
“We also look forward to Taiwan and Honduras being able, after this election, to establish diplomatic relations based on equality and mutual benefit,” he said.
In the election run-up, Trump said he could work with Asfura, a 67-year-old former mayor of Tegucigalpa, to counter drug trafficking. He accused Moncada of being a “communist,” without providing evidence.
Trump also called Nasralla a “borderline communist” who was running to take votes away from Asfura. The 72-year-old television presenter was vice president under Castro before stepping aside to launch a third run for the presidency as the centrist Liberal Party candidate on a broad pledge to restore the rule of law and battle corruption.
(Reporting by Laura Garcia in Tegucigalpa, Laura Gottesdiener and Diego Ore in Mexico City; Additional reporting by Brendan O’Boyle, Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Zieminski, Daniel Wallis and Lincoln Feast)
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