Nasry “Tito” Asfura ahead in Honduras!
Tegucigalpa, Dec 8 (EFE).-
Nasry Asfura, the candidate of Honduras’s conservative Partido Nacional de Honduras — backed by former U.S. President Donald Trump — extended his lead over Salvador Nasralla as the first phase of the vote count concluded, the electoral authority said Tuesday.
With 98.77 percent of voting records tallied, Asfura had received 1,291,320 votes (40.53 percent), while Nasralla had 1,247,554 votes (39.16 percent).
In third place was left-wing candidate Rixi Moncada of the Partido Libertad y Refundación (Libre), with 615,712 votes (19.32 percent).
The count has been interrupted several times — most recently a three-day pause — and over 2,750 records with inconsistencies remain pending. According to the electoral authority, those ballots could represent more than 500,000 votes and will undergo a special “recount” under party and observer supervision starting Tuesday or Wednesday.
A former Supreme Electoral Tribunal magistrate, Augusto Aguilar, told EFE that the results remain preliminary until the special count is completed. He said that if “more electors than votes” are found on a tally, or digitization errors occur, a new corrected tally sheet will be drawn up and considered valid.
As the delay continues, Nasralla declared on social media that he will be “the next president of Honduras” and that the advantage currently favoring Asfura will be reversed in the special count. He also accused the National Party of inflating tallies in several communities.
Meanwhile, Carlos Flores — one of Asfura’s vice-presidential running mates — said on national television that they hold a 100 percent accounting of the tally sheets, both digital and physical, which he said confirm a victory for the National Party. According to him, the party has won in 202 of the country’s 298 municipalities across 12 of the 18 departments. He also claimed they secured 50 of the 128 seats in Congress, compared with 40 for Nasralla’s Liberal Party.
The electoral authority has up to 30 days from the Nov. 30 election to officially declare the final result, which will determine the president, three vice-presidents, 298 mayors, 128 members of Congress and 20 representatives to the Central American parliament. EFE
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