São Paulo, Brazil — It’s been over a week since Honduras’ presidential elections and voters still don’t know who their next president will be.
The November 30 elections resulted in a technical tie between center-right candidate Salvador Nasralla and far-right candidate Nasry Asfura.
The country’s National Electoral Council (CNE) was given 30 days to do an extensive count of the votes, which had paused for three days before restarting on Monday.
As of Tuesday, the CNE reported that Asfura led with 40.53% of votes followed by Nasralla with 30.16% with 99.40 percent of total votes counted. Rixi Moncada, the leftist candidate from the ruling Libre party, was in third place with 19.32% of the vote.
On Monday, Nasralla claimed there had been fraud in the vote tallying following what he said were repeated system crashes.
“This evening at 7:20 PM, the system crashed again while they were entering the tally sheets from Cortés and Atlántida. This is fraud,” said Nasralla on X. “They are manipulating the system. The National Party received 20% fewer real votes nationwide than the Liberal Party.”
He added: “This is theft. Our people who are working on contingency plans right now feel powerless.”
The centrist candidate called for a recount in the departments of Lempira, Intibucá, La Paz, Copán, and Santa Bárbara, where he claimed there was “a pattern of fraud” and biometrics were not used.
Nasralla, a famous TV host in Honduras, is currently being edged by Asfura, who days before the election received an endorsement from U.S. President Donald Trump.
“If he [Asfura] doesn’t win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad,” Trump wrote on Truth Social the Friday before elections.
On December 1, Trump also pardoned former Honduran president and convicted cocaine trafficker Juan Orlando Hernández.
Moncada, the chosen successor of current President Xiomara Castro, has rejected election results and denounced U.S. interference in the elections, requesting a “total annulment.”
Meanwhile, CNE President Ana Paola Hall stated on Monday the voting data was updated and candidates should file appeals “if necessary.”
“After the necessary technical actions were completed (accompanied by an external audit), the data is now being updated in the results publication,” Hall wrote on X.
“Candidates should remain attentive and, if necessary, file any corresponding appeals in accordance with the law,” she added.
Honduran electoral law gives the CNE 30 days to declare the results. The CNE can also declare a recount and call for new elections.
Featured image credit:
Image: Nasry Asfura and Salvador Nasralla, Hondura’s presidential candidates
Source: Office of the President, Republic of China (Taiwan) / Official Photo by Shufu Liu / Office of the President
