Honduran Candidate Alleges Election Has Been 'Rigged'
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.
Nine days after the election, the election authority has yet to announce a winner, but the most recent tally suggest that Nasry "Tito" Asfura, the conservative candidate endorsed by US President Donald Trump, holds a narrow lead.
Nasralla, who had been leading earlier on before dropping into second place, stated on social media: "This is theft."
The left-wing candidate placed in third, Rixi Moncada, has called for the vote to be annulled and accused Trump of the election.
Narrow Results and Growing Frustration
With 98.77% of votes counted, Asfura had 40.53% of the vote, leading Nasralla with under forty percent and Moncada with 19.32%, according to the National Electoral Council's (CNE) update.
Frustration has been growing over the last week as the counting stalled several times, sometimes for days on end.
Officials from the CNE attributed the delays to "IT issues."
They have also cautioned that thousands of voting records with "inconsistencies" still need to be reviewed.
Trump's Backing and Surprise Pardon
The period preceding the election was overshadowed by Trump's support for Nasry "Tito" Asfura.
Shortly before the vote, Trump threw his weight behind the former mayor of Tegucigalpa, stating 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 wasting resources, because a poor choice can only bring disastrous outcomes," Trump added.
In a unexpected action two days before the election, Trump also pardoned jailed former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who is 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 have issued an international arrest warrant for Hernández, who remains in the US.
Rising Tensions and Allegations of Interference
At the same time, tension has been rising as the lead in the vote count changed a number of times.
Trump claimed the CNE of "trying to change" the outcome when Nasralla overtook Asfura early on.
"They will face severe consequences," 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 urged its supporters to protest publicly against what it called "meddling and pressure 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.
