TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – Honduran centrist candidate Salvador Nasralla on Thursday alleged fraud in the country's highly contested presidential vote after his Trump-backed rival Nasry Asfura pulled narrowly past him overnight.
Nasralla, in a post on X, said the screen displaying the vote data went blank at 3:24 am and alleged "an algorithm changed the data," giving the higher tally to Asfura after Nasralla had been leading the vote count since Tuesday. The results are being updated on the electoral body's website.
The run-up to the vote in the small Central American country had been rocked for months by allegations of fraud.
The election was catapulted to the international stage as US President Donald Trump threw his support behind Asfura and alleged, without evidence, that there had been possible fraud in the initial vote tally.
In a press conference on Thursday, the CNE electoral council defended the process and said voting records considered inconsistent were not part of the formal count and would be reviewed.
"There are cases where the records of the polling stations have presented insurmountable inconsistencies," said CNE head Ana Paola Hall, adding the recount would require time but be delivered within the legal deadline – December 30.
"The results delivered by the CNE will be final," she added, calling for patience. "Haste is sometimes the enemy of legitimacy."
Late on Thursday, CNE official Marlon Ochoa gave a press conference in which he criticized the electoral process for problems with the vote publication system, alleged vote-buying and intimidation, as well as the "vulgar foreign intervention."
"I believe there is unanimity among the Honduran people that we are perhaps in the least transparent election in our democratic history," Ochoa said, decrying an electoral "coup."
17% OF VOTES TO BE REVIEWED
On Thursday, the National Party's Asfura held 40.25%, nearly 23,900 votes ahead of the Liberal Party's Nasralla, who had 39.39%. Rixi Moncada of the ruling leftist LIBRE Party remained well behind in third place in the election, which was held on Sunday.
With around 87% of the tally sheets counted, each representing votes from a single polling station, Asfura held a slim lead which narrowed slightly through the day. Around 17% of the tally sheets have inconsistencies and will be reviewed, according to the country's electoral authority.
Nasralla's post did not provide evidence of vote tampering.
"They must investigate the Colombian company involved in these changes, ASD," he said.
Fraud allegations have haunted Honduras since the fiercely contested 2013 presidential election, when opposition leaders accused the ruling party of manipulating vote tallies and violating campaign finance rules in a race marred by irregularities.
Nasralla said Honduras "will not allow a repeat of the Batson curve," a reference to David Matamoros Batson, the former electoral tribunal chief whose tenure became synonymous with late-night vote swings and contested results in past elections.
ASD, the Colombian company handling Honduras' ballot processing, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The latest tally marks another shift in the seesaw race. Nasralla had held a razor-thin lead on Wednesday, and the two frontrunners have repeatedly switched places as hand-counted tallies trickled in from across the country. Preliminary results released on Monday showed what the electoral body called a "technical tie."
RESULTS REPORTING HAS BEEN CHAOTIC
Voting on Sunday was calm and peaceful, according to independent electoral observers. But the subsequent reporting of the results has been chaotic, marred by starts and stops that have intensified frustrations over the tight race.
Members of the electoral council have blamed the company behind the tabulating platform for pauses in the vote count.
Trump has repeatedly waded into Honduras' election. Ahead of the vote, he strongly backed Asfura, the 67-year-old former mayor of the capital of Tegucigalpa, signaling he could cut funds to Honduras if Asfura did not win.
Then Trump alleged possible fraud in the election in a social media post on Monday night, but did not provide evidence.
Trump also pardoned a former president of Asfura's National Party: Juan Orlando Hernandez, who had been serving a 45-year sentence in the U.S. after being convicted on drug trafficking and weapons charges.
Despite the charged environment, Tegucigalpa's streets remained calm on Thursday as citizens awaited results.
The Honduran presidency is decided in a single round. The candidate with the most votes wins, even if the margin is narrow or the candidate falls short of a majority.
In previous election cycles, contested results have led to mass protests and violent crackdowns by security forces.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau on Thursday said that all parties needed to uphold the independence of the CNE to ensure full transparency and a proper count of every vote and tally sheet.
"The world’s eyes, including ours, are on Honduras," Landau worte on X.