Honduran centrist candidate Salvador Nasralla on Thursday alleged fraud in the country’s highly contested presidential vote after his Trump-backed rival Nasry Asfura pulled narrowly past him overnight.
Nasralla, in a post on X, said the screen displaying the vote data went blank at 3.24am and alleged “an algorithm changed the data”, giving the higher tally to Asfura after Nasralla had been leading the vote count since Tuesday. The results are being updated on the electoral body’s website.
The run-up to the vote in the small Central American country had been rocked for months by allegations of fraud. The election was catapulted to the international stage as US President Donald Trump threw his support behind Asfura and alleged, without evidence, that there had been possible fraud in the initial vote tally.
In a press conference on Thursday, the CNE electoral council defended the process and said voting records considered inconsistent were not part of the formal count and would be reviewed.
“There are cases where the records of the polling stations have presented insurmountable inconsistencies,” said CNE head Ana Paola Hall, adding the recount would require time but be delivered within the legal deadline – December 30.