Conservative Nasry “Tito” Asfura, supported by American President Donald Trump in the presidential elections in Honduras, denounced a delay in the release of results and the crash of the National Electoral Council (CNE) website, amid allegations of fraud and corruption in recent days.
With 53% of the votes counted until the early hours of this Monday (1st), the right-wing candidates Asfura (40%) and Salvador Nasralla (39.8%) were leading the dispute, indicating a possible return of the conservatives after four years of left-wing government. Meanwhile, the government candidate, Rixi Moncada, appears far from the two politicians, with 19.2%.
Honduran media reported that the elections went relatively smoothly on Sunday, with approximately 2.8 million of the 6 million registered voters voting, although the release of preliminary results was hours late due to “technical problems” reported by the CNE.
Given the situation, the candidate supported by Trump publicly demanded that the electoral authority comply with legal deadlines. “We demand that Ana Paola Hall (president of the CNE) do her duty. I don’t know what she is waiting for. Do her duty. We cannot leave the country waiting, in suspense, in the dark. Please do this for the sake of democracy,” said Asfura.
At the moment, the CNE website remains offline, without a proper justification from the body, as denounced by the conservative. Election observers and party representatives await the release of the results, which should be released on Sunday night, without official explanation.
Honduras’ electoral process is being monitored by more than 30,000 national and international observers, in a context marked by accusations of fraud among the main presidential candidates.