🔗 Share this article Presidential Contender Alleges Vote Has Been 'Manipulated' 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 conservative candidate endorsed by US President Donald Trump, holds a slim advantage. Nasralla, who had been ahead in the initial stages before falling to second place, declared on social media: "This is a robbery." 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 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 just under twenty percent, according to the election body's update. Patience has worn thin over the last week as the counting was repeatedly halted, sometimes for extended periods. Officials from the CNE blamed "system glitches." They have also warned that thousands of voting records with "discrepancies" still need to be examined. Trump's Endorsement and Controversial Pardon The period preceding the election was dominated 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 Narcocommunists." "Our support will be strong should Asfura win, but we will not be throwing good money after bad, because a wrong Leader 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 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. Mounting Tensions and Allegations of Meddling At the same time, 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 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 moved in the lead, it has been his two rivals crying foul. Rixi Moncada's Libre party called for the "complete cancellation" 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 "corrupt ones" for "holding up the counting process." According to the nation's regulations, the CNE has until 30 December to announce a victor.