MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Honduran crisis deepens as elections remain undecided

Trump's candidate Asfura was slightly ahead when vote counting was halted

Honduran President Xiomara Castro has escalated the political crisis surrounding the undecided November 30 presidential election, condemning what she termed “interference” by US President Donald Trump and claiming an “electoral coup” was underway.

The leftist leader announced Tuesday that she will denounce the electoral process before international organizations, declaring the vote to be “tainted with nullity.”

“I condemn the interference of US President Donald Trump when he threatened the Honduran people that if they voted for a brave and patriotic candidate from the Libre party, Rixi Moncada, there would be consequences,” Castro said from the main Courthouse in Olancho.

She accused “conservatives in Washington” of aligning with “drug traffickers, organized crime, and the gangs” in Honduras to restore an old order that aims to prevent the country's rebuilding process. She also cited the recent pardon granted by Trump to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, a convicted drug trafficker, just one day before the elections, as evidence of political manipulation.

Castro claimed the election was marked by “cheating, fraud, and manipulation of the TREP” (Preliminary Election Results Transmission System).

The election remains unsettled after a two-day pause in counting due to data transmission issues. According to the latest official figures from the National Electoral Council (CNE), after 99.40% of the polling stations were counted,

Nasry Asfura of the National Party was leading with 40.52% of the vote, followed by Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party (39.48%), and Rixi Moncada of the ruling LIBRE Party (19.29%). Both Moncada and Nasralla are rejecting these results.

Former President & LIBRE Coordinator Manuel Zelaya claimed that the ruling party's internal count showed the rightful winner was Nasralla, who also criticized the count, calling it “fraud” and “theft.”