🔗 Share this article Honduran Candidate Alleges Election Has Been 'Stolen' 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 "corrupt people" of manipulating the vote count in the Central American nation. Over a week after the election, the electoral council has still not declared a winner, but the most recent tally suggest that Nasry "Tito" Asfura, the conservative candidate backed by US President Donald Trump, holds a narrow lead. Nasralla, who had been ahead in the initial stages before dropping into second place, declared on social media: "They have stolen it." The progressive hopeful trailing in third, Rixi Moncada, has called for the vote to be invalidated and alleged US interference by Trump in the election. Close Results and Growing Unrest With 98.77% of votes counted, Asfura had just over forty percent of the vote, leading Nasralla with 39.16% 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 stalled several times, sometimes for extended periods. Officials from the CNE attributed the delays to "technical problems." They have also warned that thousands of voting records with "discrepancies" still need to be examined. Trump's Backing and Controversial Pardon The period preceding the election was overshadowed by Trump's endorsement of Nasry "Tito" Asfura. Just days before the vote, Trump threw his weight behind the former mayor of Tegucigalpa, stating that "Tito and I can work together to fight the Narcocommunists." "Our support will be strong should Asfura win, but we 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 granted clemency to 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 trafficking 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 Claims of Interference Meanwhile, the situation has grown more tense as the lead in the vote count fluctuated repeatedly. Trump claimed 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. Ever since 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 "the interference and coercion 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.