Honduras starts special count of final votes in its presidential election after pressure from the US

Honduras electoral officials on Thursday launched a special count of the final set of votes in the country’s November presidential election, after three weeks of uncertainty, swirling accusations and pressure from the Trump administration to wrap up the results.

The special count includes 2,792 ballot boxes from the Nov. 30 election. It’s unclear how long it will take.

So far, electoral authorities had counted 99.80% of the ballots, but the election is marked by razor thin margins and accusations of a number of regularities, which have prompted the special count.

Ana Paola Hall, president of the National Electoral Council, said the count was being carried out in the “presence of national and international observers.”

The process had been paralyzed due to disputes over the final count, fueling wider political uncertainty and U.S. demands to wrap up vote tallies. On Wednesday night, the U.S. State Department warned Honduran electoral authorities to “immediately” finalize results and that any calls to disrupt the process would “be met with consequences.”

“The voices of 3.4 million Hondurans must be respected and upheld,” the department said on X.

The country’s two leading candidates, both conservatives, are neck-and-neck, in a clear repudiation of the country’s ruling leftist President Xiomara Castro and her LIBRE, or Liberty and Re-foundation party.

Nasry Asfura, of the conservative National Party, leads with 40.54% of the vote, while Salvador Nasralla, of the also conservative Liberal Party, has 39.3%.

Rixi Moncada, who ran for the ruling progressive LIBRE, or Liberty and Re-foundation party, is in third place with 19.28% of the votes.

U.S. President Donald Trump backed Asfura in the lead up to the election, fueling accusations of election intervention by his opponents, namely Castro.