They came suddenly, without warning, like An organized group that knows exactly what they want to do. Six men wearing red and black T-shirts with the same name printed large on many of them: “Rexy.” Some were wearing hats, others were wearing scarves. … Arm in arm, everyone advanced to form a ring around the classroom where the journalists and international observers were. Voting center 10565 of the National Autonomous University of Honduras was a key point in Tegucigalpa. As soon as they crossed the door, the screams began: “Get out of Honduras,” “We don’t want foreigners,” “No one here is watching the count.” It was direct and aggressive, directed at those of us who were there to document the closure and recount.
Very dangerous. Groups from the ruling Liberal Party expelled international observers and journalists so they would not witness the counting of votes at UN ballot box 10,565 in Tegucigalpa. #Honduras pic.twitter.com/X2NEPkMUQj
– David Allandete (@alandete) December 1, 2025
The observers, some accredited by international missions, others independent, tried to explain that they had the right to remain in the classroom. There was no room for dialogue. One of the men pushed a journalist who was recording on his cell phone. Another began closing off access from the outside. Within seconds, the room was under his control. We were pressed into the hallway and locked up.
This group was not acting on its own. He obeyed the ruling party apparatus. The T-shirts bearing the name of Rexy Moncada, the Libre Party candidate and a figure closely associated with President Xiomara Castro, were a message in themselves. Over the course of the day, Rexey had already declared victory, even before the recount began in most parts of the country. For the opposition, this was seen as a sign of a broader strategy: manage chaos, expel witnesses, and protect the places where votes are counted.
I ask for close attention to what is happening now in Honduras. The groups they see in the photo, from the ruling Liberal Party, are forcing the early closure of a ballot box and trying to expel international observers so they won’t witness the counting process. Very tense and dangerous. pic.twitter.com/PkL3TOLOh7
– David Allandete (@alandete) December 1, 2025
The forced expulsion of observers and the press exacerbated this fear. The presence of an organized group, allied with the ruling party and ready to impose any independent point of view, has turned the process of counting this center into a completely opaque process. What happened also fits with the warnings that opposition parties have been repeating for days: that certain sectors of the ruling party could push the process towards a drift in which chaos acts as a tool to legitimize a closed outcome from above.
The chair of the table, from the opposition National Party, was clearly upset
She explained that this group forced her to close the polls before official business hours, leaving dozens of Hondurans without the possibility of voting. I saw for myself how a woman in red, from the same group, approached her, with her cell phone raised, recorded her and demanded that she close the center immediately. It was 5:40 pm. The National Electoral Council had extended voting until six in the evening. Due to the delay in delivering materials and opening ballot boxes, they are still pressuring her to stop the process early.
Moments ago, he was the favorite candidate in the polls at the same university, Salvador Nasrallah, candidate of the Liberal Party. He denounced the imposition of early closure of the center as an electoral crime He referred directly to the ruling party. He added: “They are trying to close schools before the authorities issue an order, and this is illegal.” According to his team, a group linked to the Libre party tried to prevent him from accessing the classroom as the ballot box was already closed. Nasrallah rebuked them and demanded that the extension of hours be respected, and the group ended up leaving.
This tension in the conclusion said a lot A day already marked by technical malfunctions, delays in opening ballot boxes, and mismatched ballot boxes The biometric system was broken in many centres. From the early hours, thousands of voters faced endless lines and tables without materials. In several schools in Tegucigalpa, opening was delayed by more than two hours. The chaos, which remained unresolved, increased as the day went on.
Therefore, what happened in 10565 was not an isolated incident, but rather a symptom of the tension fueled by the ruling party. In a country with a recent history of post-election crises, the violent outburst of a caucus, the expulsion of observers, and the premature announcement of the official candidate’s victory have fueled a sense that the line between disorderly and interfered with elections has become blurred.
Violations have accumulated since the morning And they actually formed a really disturbing background. The biometric system failed in many centers, forcing them to allow voting without fingerprint or photo verification. Many polling stations opened with delays of more than two hours due to unavailability of essential materials, and in some schools digitally recorded votes did not match physical votes. Each table leader applied different standards when faced with technical failures, leading to inconsistent decisions and increased mistrust. In addition, there are documented attempts to close polling stations early, even after the official extension of working hours, in addition to the movement of ruling party activists inside the polling stations to put pressure on polling station members and voters.
This climate raised real fear among the opposition and also among many international observers: that Honduras was facing a drift similar to what happened in Venezuela, with an electoral process overshadowed by chaos and controlled by a single political bloc. Rexey’s early declaration of victory, the entry of relevant groups into strategic centers and the expulsion of witnesses at critical moments deepened this anxiety before the votes were fully recounted.