(C) Amnesty International

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Five days after Hondurans cast their ballots, the presidential election remains deadlocked, mired in controversy, accusations of fraud, and unprecedented delays. The nail-biting race between the two leading candidates has seen lead changes and a major public meltdown of the electoral process, prompting a partial recount and deepening a national political crisis.

The head of Honduras's National Electoral Council (CNE), Ana Paola Hall, acknowledged the extraordinary nature of the contest. "The narrow vote difference between the two presidential candidates is unprecedented in our country's history," she wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on December 4, adding that the goal of completing the count was near.

The general election, held on November 30, saw a turnout of 41.41% among the country's 6.5 million eligible voters—representing approximately 2.6 million ballots in a nation of 10 million people. Despite the manageable number of votes, the process of determining a winner has been unusually protracted.

 
System Failures and Inconsistency Claims

The CNE's real-time online system, designed to display the vote count, has repeatedly failed. The company responsible for the preliminary results transmission system reported detecting a situation similar to an abnormal denial-of-service (DoS) hacking attempt on its infrastructure.

Adding to the confusion, CNE commissioner Cosette López Osorio publicly criticized the technical management, stating on X that the infrastructure firm had again suspended the publication of results without notifying the CNE, citing maintenance work.

More critically, local newspaper La Prensa and Reuters reported that evidence of "inconsistency" was found in approximately 12% of the already counted ballots, where the tallied results did not match the actual marks on the ballot papers. In response, the CNE announced it would proceed with a partial recount of the votes in question.

 
The Battle for the Lead

The latest vote count reflects the intense, seesaw battle. With 84.75% of the votes counted, Nasry 'Tito' Asfura (67), the right-wing National Party candidate who received public support from President Donald Trump, regained the lead with 40.07% of the vote. He once again edged ahead of his rival, the center-leaning Liberal Party candidate Salvador Nasralla (72).

However, the recurring, unexplained suspensions of the count have fueled widespread concern over the fairness and transparency of the process.

Nasralla, who slipped back into second place in the late stages of the count, alleged foul play on his X account. "Vote data was manipulated around 3:24 AM on Thursday, the 4th," he wrote, vowing to "publicly raise the issue."

The accusations of election rigging have even drawn international attention. On December 1, Donald Trump, who openly backed Asfura, claimed without providing evidence on his social media platform, Truth Social, that "Honduras is trying to change the election result (to Asfura's disadvantage)." He warned, "If they do, there will be consequences."

The mounting irregularities and the intense political polarization suggest that even after a winner is formally declared, the results will likely face significant challenges, prolonging the uncertainty and instability in the Central American nation.