Honduras election close; vote count ongoing.
The National Electoral Council of Honduras announced that with 57% of the votes counted, Nasri Asfora, the candidate of the National Conservative Party, won 749,222 votes (39.91%). This is a small difference compared to his rival, Salvador Nasrallah, the candidate of the Liberal Party, who won 748,507 votes (39.89%). This is a difference of 515 votes.
Ana Paula Hall, the president of the National Electoral Council of Honduras, announced that the system of transmission of preliminary results of the elections (TREP) has ended with more than 50% of the votes counted. However, the official count of the general election will still be published on the website of the electoral body on Sunday.
She added: Given the approximate equality of votes between Asfora and Nasrallah, “we must remain calm, patient and wait for the National Electoral Council to finish counting the votes for possible phases 1 and 2. After that, a special recount process will be carried out, thus finalizing the general count.
The operation of the Transmission of Preliminary Results (TREP) system, which provides initial information in a short period of time, will also help reduce tension among citizens who demand immediate access to the results of the National Electoral Council and ensure legal certainty.
Rixi Moncada, the leftist presidential candidate of the ruling Freedom and Reconstruction Party, stated before the election that he would not accept the results because they were “fraudulent” and “manipulated by seven private companies,” which had raised suspicions among some voters.
Responding to complaints about the suspension of the TREP, Hall said: “Patience and caution are needed; the calm with which this process has begun must be maintained until the results are announced.”
According to Honduran analyst Osiris Pais, the TREP (Transmission of Preliminary Results System) is “a comprehensive system that combines scanning, automated detection, human-guided correction, and encrypted transmission,” and “if any of these components fail, the credibility of the process is compromised.”
The National Electoral Council has 30 days from election day to publish the final results.