Honduras presidential candidates locked in 'technical tie', official says

The two leading candidates to be president of Honduras were locked in a "technical tie" on Monday, with a razor-thin margin separating them.

As of Monday afternoon, there were just 515 votes separating right-wing candidate Nasry Asfura from his nearest challenger, Salvador Nasralla, a former TV host standing for the country's centrist party.

The head of the electoral commission called for "patience and prudence" while the result was tallied, but officials have not released an update since, leading to confusion and growing tensions among voters about the status of the race.

The website of the electoral council has also collapsed, adding to public fears about problems with the count.

On Monday night, US President Donald Trump, who is a vocal backer of Asfura, claimed counting had "abruptly stopped", and accused officials of "trying to change the results" of the election.

Trump said there would be "hell to pay", having previously threatened to cut off aid to Honduras if Asfura was not elected.

The President of the National Electoral Council (CNE) Ana Paola Hall has not released an update since around 13:00 local time, when 57% of the vote had been counted.

In that update, Hall said the process was continuing to play out but has not commented since.

The outgoing president, Xiomara Castro of the left-wing Libre party, was barred by the constitution from standing for a second term. She backed Rixi Moncada.

Officials said turnout was expected to be strong among the 6.5m registered voters, but no official figures have yet been released.

Many Hondurans had a sense that this would not be an entirely straightforward election but few would have foreseen the vote count being this close.

The collapse of the official election website, apparently due to high traffic, has only compounded fears among voters of problems with the count.

People are keen to avoid an extended period of uncertainty or legal challenges over the result, which could be the case if the numbers remain close.

Shortly before casting their ballots, voters at a farmers' market in Tegucigalpa spoke of their desire for change.

"People must vote based on reality in front of us, and not stay blindly loyal to any party colours," insisted walnut-seller Nicole Castillo, adding that she believed that meant acknowledging the ingrained corruption in Honduran politics.

Nolvy Oriales, who owns a cheese counter nearby, said that her main motivation for voting was also to stamp out corruption and cronyism.

"I think we need to try someone new, someone who hasn't been in power before, because these last few years have been very, very tough," she said.

For many, the person who represents a new start is Nasralla of the Liberal Party, who has portrayed himself as the man who will put an end to corruption in Honduras if he is elected.

Although he was the vice-president for a time alongside incumbent Xiomara Castro, the two fell out and he resigned. Most know him best from his work as a television sports presenter.

The other option in front of those who wanted a break with the governing Libre party was Asfura, the candidate favoured by Trump.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Friday that the US would be "very supportive" if centre-right candidate Asfura won the presidential election.

"If he doesn't win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad, because a wrong Leader can only bring catastrophic results to a country, no matter which country it is," Trump added.

But the US president's last-minute intervention angered many as they went to the polls.

Casting his ballot at a school in Tegucigalpa, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Octavio Pineda told the BBC that President Trump's social media posts amounted to meddling.

"It's totally electoral interference by the US president and we have publicly denounced it as such. We heard his words, but we don't share his views."

In one social media post, Mr Trump also controversially promised to pardon the disgraced former Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernández, who is currently serving 45 years in a US prison for smuggling drugs and weapons.

"Remember, it wasn't even the Honduran justice system which tried and sentenced our ex-president for drug trafficking. It was the US Attorney General's office itself," recalls Minister Pineda.

Meanwhile, Asfura has carefully tried to distance himself from Hernández.

On Friday he told news agency AFP that he has "no ties" with the ex-president, and that "the party is not responsible for his personal actions".

For now, the vote count goes on, and the tension in Honduras continues to rise.

People have bad memories of street violence following disputed election result in 2017 when Juan Orlando Hernández claimed victory in a vote count which was questioned by international observers and the Organisation of American States (OAS).

Pitched battles between protesters and the police lead to at least 20 deaths.

No-one wants a repeat of those dark days, and people remain hopeful that calm will prevail.

Yet some shop owners have reportedly boarded up their businesses and some employees are staying away from work, at least until the drama of the vote count is over, and the name of the president-elect is clear.