🔗 Share this article Honduran Contender Claims Election Has Been 'Stolen' Tensions have run high as the lead changed hands several times. The centrist candidate in Honduras's knife-edge presidential election, Salvador Nasralla, has alleged "unscrupulous individuals" of tampering with the vote count in the Central American nation. Over a week after the election, the election authority has still not declared a winner, but the latest results suggest that Nasry "Tito" Asfura, the right-wing contender backed by US President Donald Trump, holds a slim advantage. Nasralla, who had been leading earlier on before dropping into second place, stated on social media: "They have stolen it." The left-wing candidate trailing in third, Rixi Moncada, has demanded the vote to be annulled and alleged US interference by Trump in the election. Close Results and Growing Frustration With the vast majority of votes counted, Asfura had 40.53% of the vote, ahead of Nasralla with under forty percent and Moncada with just under twenty percent, according to the National Electoral Council's (CNE) update. Frustration has been growing over the last week as the counting was repeatedly halted, sometimes for days on end. Officials from the CNE blamed "IT issues." They have also warned 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 support for 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 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 clemency and freedom has stunned Honduran authorities, who have issued an international arrest warrant for Hernández, who remains in the US. Rising Tensions and Allegations 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 overtook Asfura early on. "If they do, there will be hell to pay," the US president said without offering proof of any fraud. Ever since the Trump-endorsed Asfura took 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 called on its supporters to take to the streets against what it called "the interference and coercion of the President of the United States." Nasralla blamed unnamed "corrupt ones" for "holding up the counting process." According to the nation's regulations, the CNE has until 30 December to declare a winner.