The Parliament of Honduras condemned this Wednesday the “interference” of the President of the United States, Donald Trumpin the general elections on November 30, the preliminary results of which are led by the presidential candidate of the Conservative National Party, Nasry Asfourathat the president supports … UNITED STATES.
“We absolutely condemn the interference of Trump, who threatened and coerced Honduran citizens by modifying the free exercise of suffrage, through public statements made 72 hours before the November 30 elections,” declared the President of the Honduran Parliament. Luis Redondoin a press release.
The declaration was approved by the Permanent Commission of Parliament, made up of only nine of the 128 deputies of this branch of the State, which since the end of August, by decision of Redondo, has not convened the plenary session, which caused a partial legislative paralysis.
Trump’s expressed support for Asfura and his decision to pardon the former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandezwho has been serving a 45-year prison sentence in New York since June 2024 for drug trafficking and weapons-related crimes, “constitutes unacceptable interference, a direct threat to the Honduran people and a flagrant violation of democratic principles and international law aimed at influencing the vote through pressure, disinformation and economic conditions,” adds the press release.
He also points out that Trump suffered “an unprecedented act of coercion against the sovereignty of a country in the world. “It is about our dignity, our self-determination, but also international law as established in the Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS) with absolute clarity.”
According to the Parliament’s Permanent Commission, which has broad powers, Trump’s decisions in favor of Asfura and Hernández “manipulated the Honduran electoral process, intimidating voters and scaring them into not sending more money to families.”
“The National Congress will not validate a process tainted by internal pressure from organized crime structures linked to drug trafficking such as MS-13, 18 gangs, among others, and even less by external pressure and by the direct violation of the freedom of voters,” underlines the press release.
In addition, it indicates that the system for transmitting preliminary electoral results (TREP) of the National Electoral Council (CNE) did not function as established during the audit.
Parliament asked the European Union (EU) and OAS election observation missions (EOMs) “to include in their final reports a detailed analysis of the events that occurred, including external and internal threats, TREP failures and administrative decisions that affected the biometric verification of the vote.”
The EU and OAS perspective
However, the EU and OAS EOMs in Honduras on Wednesday urged political parties to respect the popular will expressed in the November 30 general elections.
Concretely, the EU EOM asked political actors to respect the will of Hondurans during the elections, the official results of which are still unknown, and encouraged political forces to use “the traceability mechanisms” offered by the CNE and the resources provided by law to resolve “questions about the results”.
For its part, the OAS EOM urged parties, candidates and authorities to “await official results and maintain active monitoring of the ongoing elections” to ensure that “the final phases of the process take place in accordance with the law and reflect the popular will.”
Asfura leads the latest official CNE vote count with 1,298,835 (40.52%), followed by the equally conservative Liberal Party candidate, Salvador Nasralla, with 1,256,428 votes (39.48%). The candidate of the ruling Free Party, Rixi Moncada, remains relegated to third place with 618,448 ballots (19.29%), with 99.40% of the minutes scrutinized.
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