Presidential Candidate Alleges Election Has Been 'Rigged'
The centrist candidate in Honduras's knife-edge presidential election, Salvador Nasralla, has accused "unscrupulous individuals" of manipulating the vote count in the Central American nation.
Over a week after the election, the electoral council has still not declared a winner, but the most recent tally suggest that Nasry "Tito" Asfura, the conservative candidate backed by US President Donald Trump, holds a narrow lead.
Nasralla, who had been leading earlier on before falling to second place, declared on social media: "They have stolen it."
The progressive hopeful trailing in third, Rixi Moncada, has demanded the vote to be annulled and accused Trump of the election.
Close Results and Growing Frustration
With 98.77% of votes counted, Asfura had just over forty percent of the vote, ahead of Nasralla with under forty percent and Moncada with just under twenty percent, per the election body's update.
Patience has worn thin over the last week as the counting was repeatedly halted, sometimes for days on end.
Representatives of the CNE blamed "technical problems."
They have also cautioned that numerous voting records with "inconsistencies" still need to be reviewed.
Trump's Backing and Controversial Pardon
The run-up to the election was dominated by Trump's support for Nasry "Tito" Asfura.
Shortly before the vote, Trump backed the former mayor of Tegucigalpa, saying that "Tito and I can work together to fight the drug traffickers."
"We will be very supportive should Asfura win, but we will not be throwing good money after bad, because a wrong Leader can only bring catastrophic results," Trump added.
In a unexpected action two days before the election, Trump also granted clemency to jailed former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who is from the same party as Asfura.
Hernández was serving a 45-year prison sentence in the US for trafficking cocaine.
His clemency and freedom has shocked Honduran authorities, who have issued an international arrest warrant for Hernández, who is still in the US.
Rising Tensions and Claims of Meddling
Meanwhile, the situation has grown more tense as the lead in the vote count changed a number of times.
Trump claimed the CNE of "trying to change" the outcome when Nasralla pulled past Asfura early on.
"If they do, there will be hell to pay," the US president said without offering proof of any fraud.
Since the moment the Trump-endorsed Asfura moved in the lead, it has been his two rivals crying foul.
Rixi Moncada's Libre party called for the "complete cancellation" of the elections.
It also called on its supporters to take to the streets against what it called "meddling and pressure of the President of the United States."
Nasralla pointed the finger at unnamed "bad actors" for "holding up the counting process."
Under Honduran law, the CNE has until 30 December to declare a winner.
