Trump weighs in again as Honduras vote count drags on with two right-wing candidates in a virtual tie

The preliminary results of the general election in Honduras have left its citizens with a feeling of surprise. Very few in this Central American country expected the election to be decided vote by vote due to a virtual tie between the two right-wing candidates: the liberal Salvador Nasralla and the nationalist Nasry Asfura. Nasralla has declared himself the winner on social media and presented data from his party that gives him an advantage over his opponent, but Asfura has opted for caution. While uncertainty reigns, electoral authorities have asked people for calm and urged them to wait for the final vote count. “Given this virtual tie, we must be patient and wait until we finish counting the ballots,” stated Ana Paola Hall, head of the National Electoral Council (CNE).

On Monday night U.S. President Donald Trump, who had endorsed Asfura ahead of the Sunday election, used social media to sow doubt about the vote count. Contrary to his administration’s official position, which has called for patience, he posted: “Looks like Honduras is trying to change the results of their Presidential Election. If they do, there will be hell to pay!”

Meanwhile CNE chief Hall congratulated Hondurans for their turnout and for maintaining their composure despite the close results. The day after the election, normalcy prevailed in the capital, Tegucigalpa, despite earlier fears of unrest if the vote count did not favor Libre, the governing party, whose representatives had warned they would not accept defeat. Some businesses remained closed, while others still had plywood boards covering their windows. The margin of defeat for the ruling party is so large that its supporters have barely had time to absorb the blow.

On Monday, several government ministers began accepting defeat and resigning from their posts. This was the case with Daniel Sponda, Minister of Education, who wrote on social media: “In a democracy, we also learn from defeat. We lost an election, but not our cause.” Octavio Pineda, Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation, expressed a similar sentiment, announcing that he had already begun the transition process and instructed his team to hand over all the information resulting from the complex vote count to the new government.

While Asfura and Nasralla continued their head-to-head campaign, awaiting the official results, Rixi Moncada, the candidate for the ruling Libre party, remained silent. She had promised a news conference after the preliminary results were released, but canceled it Sunday night and has not appeared publicly since. Former president Manuel Zelaya, who founded the party after the 2009 military coup that ousted him, did comment on the outcome. “Libre is a party of ideals tested in the streets and with significant social and democratic achievements under the presidency of Xiomara Castro,” he posted on X, referring to his wife and current president. Castro has not yet commented.

Electoral authorities are under pressure to release an official tally as soon as possible, before uncertainty further inflames already heated tempers following a highly polarized campaign rife with insults and threats. The country is experiencing a tense situation as supporters of both sides demand that their candidates claim victory. Asfura is still surprised to have climbed from third place in the polls to narrowly missing the presidency. The National Party, for which he is running in this election, has a dark history of politicians linked to corruption scandals, inefficiency, and ties to drug trafficking, as is the case of former president Juan Orlando Hernández, known as JOH, who was sentenced in the United States to 45 years in prison for drug trafficking.

Despite the U.S. court’s conviction, President Donald Trump announced a surprise pardon for JOH and an endorsement of Asfura last Friday, just three days before the election. He did so in a message on his social media platform, Truth, in which he also conditioned his support for the Central American country on the election of the conservative candidate.

Asfura, who comes from a family of Palestinian origin, gained a reputation among Hondurans as an efficient politician during his tenure as mayor of Tegucigalpa, thanks to his implementation of several urban infrastructure projects and public works. The candidate, who goes by the handle Papi a la orden on social media, wasted no time in capitalizing on Trump’s endorsement: he posted photos of himself alongside the Republican leader and the Argentine president Javier Milei, who has also endorsed him. Asfura has promised economic reforms to attract foreign investors, but he has also stated that he will strengthen the armed forces of a country still reeling from the wounds of the 2009 coup.

For his part, Nasralla, who is running for president for the third time, is a familiar face to Hondurans, as he is a popular television host. He entered this election as a champion against the corruption of the political and business elites who have embezzled from the state, citing cases such as the corruption case that cost Hondurans more than $200 million and the Trans-450 infrastructure project, a bus rapid transit system for Tegucigalpa that was never completed but siphoned off $150 million from public funds. Nasralla has tried to convince voters that he is not part of the traditional political class and that his election will represent a new, “cleaner” way of governing. Corruption is a painful issue in this country and is possibly one of the reasons why Nasralla is also on the verge of winning the presidency.

The final decision rests on a recount that has a country on edge — a country that has turned its back on a left-wing transformation project that has proven ephemeral.

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