Honduran candidate calls foul on vote data after Asfura edges ahead

Honduran centrist candidate Salvador Nasralla on Thursday (December 4, 2025) alleged fraud in the country’s highly contested presidential vote after his Trump-backed rival Nasry Asfura pulled narrowly past him overnight.

Mr. Nasralla, in a post on X, said the screen displaying the vote data went blank at 3:24 a.m. 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 U.S. 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 (December 4), 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.

“The results delivered by the CNE will be final,” she added, calling for patience. “Haste is sometimes the enemy of legitimacy.”

17% of votes to be reviewed

On Thursday (December 4), the National Party’s Asfura held 40.27%, about 24,400 votes ahead of the Liberal Party’s Nasralla, who had 39.38%. Rixi Moncada of the ruling leftist LIBRE Party remained well behind in third place in the election, which was held on Sunday.

With around 86% of the tally sheets counted, each representing votes from a single polling station, Asfura gained a narrow lead. Around 17% of the tally sheets have inconsistencies and will be reviewed, according to the country’s electoral authority.

Mr. Nasralla’s post did not provide evidence of vote tampering.

“They must investigate the Colombian company involved in these changes, ASD,” he said.

Fraud allegations have haunted Honduras since the fiercely contested 2013 presidential election, when opposition leaders accused the ruling party of manipulating vote tallies and violating campaign finance rules in a race marred by irregularities.

Nasralla said Honduras “will not allow a repeat of the Batson curve,” a reference to David Matamoros Batson, the former electoral tribunal chief whose tenure became synonymous with late-night vote swings and contested results in past elections.

ASD, the Colombian company handling Honduras’ ballot processing, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The latest tally marks another shift in the seesaw race. Nasralla had held a razor-thin lead on Wednesday, and the two frontrunners have repeatedly switched places as hand-counted tallies trickled in from across the country. Preliminary results released on Monday (December 1) showed what the electoral body called a “technical tie.”