Salvador Nasralla a candidate in the Honduran presidential elections has told Reuters that the polls were affected by President Trump's endorsement of conservative candidate Nasry Asfura, and technical disruptions.
Partial results released on Thursday showed Nasralla with 39.38% of the vote versus Asfura’s 40.27%, with about 87% of ballots counted.
However, the electoral authority said roughly 17% of ballots contain inconsistencies and will be reviewed, leaving the outcome unsettled.
Nasralla, a three-time contender who describes himself as centre-right, said that Trump’s post had flipped the race.
"Nasralla is not a reliable partner for Freedom, and cannot be trusted. I hope the people of Honduras vote for Freedom and Democracy, and elect Tito Asfura, President!" President Trump wrote on the social network X on 28 November, 2025.
Candidate Nasralla expressed hurt after the vote shift as he was "winning by a much larger margin,".
He rejected Trump’s description of him as a "borderline communist."
Nasralla also condemned Trump’s decision to pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who was serving a 45-year sentence in U.S. for drug trafficking.
Hernández’s National Party, now backing Asfura, maintained close ties to Washington during his presidency.
Fraud allegations
Candidate Nasralla expressed suspicions of fraud and technical errors during the campaign.
He said in a post on X on Thursday that the results screen suddenly went blank at 3:24 a.m., and when it returned, the lead had shifted to Asfura after Nasralla had been ahead since Tuesday.
"That suggests some algorithm changed that shouldn't have," Nasralla said, while admitting he has no evidence.
On the contrary, President Trump alleged possible fraud in the initial vote tally that showed Nasralla leading.
Writing on Truth Social on Tuesday (2 December), he, without offering evidence, accused Honduras of "trying to change the results."
"If they do, there will be hell to pay," the U.S. president warned, "the people of Honduras voted in overwhelming numbers on November 30th."
However, the Organization of American States has not identified manipulation, and analysts said delays appear rooted in institutional weaknesses.
“They all had a hand in building a pretty weak and broken electoral system,” said Eric Olson of the Seattle International Foundation. “This process is not great, but it happens all the time in the case of Honduras.”
In a press conference on Thursday, the National Electoral Council of Colombia defended the process and said voting records considered inconsistent were not part of the formal count and would be reviewed.
Honduras faced similar disputes in its 2017 presidential vote, when irregularities sparked widespread accusations of manipulated tallies.
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Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains limited on Thursday, with no increase in vessel crossings as U.S.-Iran talks to resolve the conflict remained stalled. Nine commodity vessels transited the key waterway on Wednesday, unchanged from the previous day, according to Kpler data.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has slowed, according to the latest data, as uncertainty over the waterway’s reopening kept most shipowners away. Six commodity vessels crossed the strait on Tuesday, down from nine the day before and below the 10-day daily average of 11.
Iran has said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the U.S. fulfils the terms of an interim deal, including lifting the maritime blockade and sanctions and releasing Iran’s frozen assets.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 19th of August, covering the latest developments.
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