Presidential Contender Claims Vote Has Been 'Stolen'

The moderate candidate in Honduras's knife-edge presidential election, Salvador Nasralla, has alleged "corrupt people" of tampering with the vote count in the Central American nation.

Nine days after the election, the election authority has yet to announce 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 ahead in the initial stages before dropping into second place, stated on social media: "This is a robbery."

The left-wing candidate trailing in third, Rixi Moncada, has called for the vote to be invalidated and accused Trump of the election.

Narrow Results and Growing Unrest

With 98.77% of votes counted, Asfura had just over forty percent of the vote, leading Nasralla with under forty percent and Moncada with just under twenty percent, per the National Electoral Council's (CNE) update.

Patience has worn thin over the last week as the counting was repeatedly halted, sometimes for days on end.

Representatives of the CNE attributed the delays to "IT issues."

They have also cautioned that thousands of voting records with "irregularities" still need to be examined.

Trump's Endorsement and Surprise Pardon

The period preceding the election was overshadowed by Trump's endorsement of Nasry "Tito" Asfura.

Just days before the vote, Trump backed the former mayor of Tegucigalpa, saying that "Tito and I can work together to fight the Narcocommunists."

"We will be very supportive should Asfura win, but the United States will not be throwing good money after bad, because a poor choice can only bring catastrophic results," Trump added.

In a surprise move 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 clemency and freedom has shocked Honduran authorities, who have issued an international arrest warrant for Hernández, who remains in the US.

Mounting 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 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 alleging misconduct.

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 pointed the finger at unnamed "bad actors" for "holding up the counting process."

According to the nation's regulations, the CNE has until 30 December to declare a winner.