🔗 Share this article Presidential Contender Claims Election Has Been 'Manipulated' Tensions have run high as the lead changed hands several times. The moderate candidate in Honduras's tightly contested 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 electoral council has yet to announce a winner, but the most recent tally suggest that Nasry "Tito" Asfura, the right-wing contender backed by US President Donald Trump, holds a narrow lead. Nasralla, who had been ahead in the initial stages 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. Narrow Results and Growing Frustration With the vast majority of votes counted, Asfura had just over forty percent of the vote, ahead of Nasralla with under forty percent and Moncada with 19.32%, according to the election body's update. Frustration has been growing over the last week as the counting was repeatedly halted, sometimes for days on end. Representatives of the CNE blamed "technical problems." They have also warned that thousands of voting records with "inconsistencies" still need to be examined. Trump's Endorsement and Surprise Pardon The period preceding the election was overshadowed by Trump's endorsement of Nasry "Tito" Asfura. Shortly 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 poor choice can only bring disastrous outcomes," 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 serving 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 Allegations of Interference At the same time, the situation has grown more tense as the lead in the vote count changed a number of times. Trump claimed the CNE of "seeking to alter" the outcome when Nasralla pulled past Asfura early on. "They will face severe consequences," the US president said without providing evidence 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 pointed the finger at unnamed "bad actors" for "delaying the counting process." Under Honduran law, the CNE has until 30 December to announce a victor.