Presidential Contender Claims Election Has Been 'Rigged'
The moderate candidate in Honduras's tightly contested presidential election, Salvador Nasralla, has alleged "corrupt people" of manipulating the vote count in the country.
Nine days after the election, the election authority has still not declared a winner, but the latest results suggest that Nasry "Tito" Asfura, the right-wing contender endorsed by US President Donald Trump, holds a narrow lead.
Nasralla, who had been leading earlier on before dropping into second place, declared on social media: "This is a robbery."
The left-wing candidate placed in third, Rixi Moncada, has called for the vote to be annulled and alleged US interference by Trump in the election.
Narrow Results and Growing Frustration
With the vast majority of votes counted, Asfura had 40.53% of the vote, leading Nasralla with under forty percent and Moncada with 19.32%, according to the election body's update.
Frustration has been growing over the last week as the counting stalled several times, sometimes for days on end.
Officials from the CNE blamed "IT issues."
They have also warned that numerous voting records with "discrepancies" still need to be examined.
Trump's Endorsement and Surprise Pardon
The period preceding the election was dominated by Trump's endorsement of Nasry "Tito" Asfura.
Shortly before the vote, Trump backed the former mayor of Tegucigalpa, stating that "We can work together to fight the Narcocommunists."
"Our support will be strong should Asfura win, but we will not be wasting resources, because a poor choice can only bring disastrous outcomes," Trump added.
In a surprise move two days before the election, Trump also pardoned 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 conspiring to import 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 overtook Asfura early on.
"They will face severe consequences," the US president said without providing evidence 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 "the total annulment" of the elections.
It also called on its supporters to protest publicly against what it called "the interference and coercion of the President of the United States."
Nasralla blamed unnamed "bad actors" for "holding up the counting process."
Under Honduran law, the CNE has until 30 December to announce a victor.