🔗 Share this article Presidential Contender Claims Election Has Been 'Rigged' The atmosphere has been tense as the lead changed hands several times. The centrist candidate in Honduras's knife-edge presidential election, Salvador Nasralla, has accused "unscrupulous individuals" of manipulating the vote count in the Central American nation. Nine days after the election, the electoral council has yet to announce a winner, but the most recent tally suggest that Nasry "Tito" Asfura, the conservative candidate backed by US President Donald Trump, holds a slim advantage. Nasralla, who had been leading earlier on before falling to second place, declared on social media: "This is theft." The progressive hopeful trailing in third, Rixi Moncada, has demanded the vote to be invalidated and alleged US interference by Trump in the election. Close Results and Growing Unrest With the vast majority 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 extended periods. Officials from the CNE attributed the delays to "IT issues." They have also cautioned that numerous voting records with "irregularities" still need to be examined. Trump's Backing and Surprise Pardon The run-up to 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." "Our support will be strong should Asfura win, but the United States will not be wasting resources, because a wrong Leader can only bring catastrophic results," Trump added. In a unexpected action two days before the election, Trump also granted clemency to 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 clemency and freedom has stunned Honduran authorities, who issued an international arrest warrant for Hernández, who is still in the US. Rising Tensions and Claims of Interference Meanwhile, the situation has grown more tense as the lead in the vote count fluctuated repeatedly. 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 took 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 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." According to the nation's regulations, the CNE has until 30 December to announce a victor.