(AFP) – Hondurans waited on Friday for results from a tight presidential race held five days earlier, with a technical tie persisting between a right-wing candidate favored by US President Donald Trump and a conservative rival. The vote count after Sunday’s election has progressed slowly, with interruptions and amid allegations of fraud by Liberal Party (PL) candidate Salvador Nasralla, a 72-year-old television presenter. The gap in votes between Nasralla and Nasry Asfura, Trump’s favored candidate, remains too close to call.
With 88 percent of votes counted, Asfura, of the National Party (PN), has 40.20 percent compared to 39.47 percent for Nasralla, according to the National Electoral Council (CNE). Around 2,000 ballots with inconsistencies will also be subject to special review. “The world is already talking about the fraud they are trying to commit against” the Liberal Party, Nasralla said on X, denouncing anomalies in the entry of the records into the system. The TV presenter questioned whether the CNE would be able to have the final results ready before December 30, the deadline to announce them.
In contrast, Asfura, a former mayor of the capital Tegucigalpa, called for calm. “I will not make any statements that are inconsistent or fuel uncertainty. The stability of the country is above any personal ambition. I ask for calm,” said Asfura, a 67-year-old construction entrepreneur. Trump upended the race by declaring his clear support for Asfura in the final stretch of the campaign, declaring him a “friend of freedom.” He accused Nasralla of merely “pretending to be an anti-communist.”
Later, Trump — who routinely casts doubt on the integrity of elections if results go against him — threatened of “hell to pay” if the results were changed in some way. Honduras is one of Latin America’s most impoverished and violent countries, and many citizens have fled north to the United States to escape those hardships, including minors fearing forced recruitment by gangs. Trump has become increasingly vocal in his support for allies in the region, having threatened to cut aid to Argentina and Honduras if his picks did not win. Argentina’s President Javier Milei, a close Trump ally, was victorious in his country’s midterm elections.
Whatever the outcome in Honduras, Sunday’s vote was a clear defeat for the country’s ruling leftists.
© 2024 AFP
