The conservative Asfoura and the centrist Nasrallah compete to vote for first place after the resumption of vote counting in the presidential elections in Honduras.

This only happens when the calculation of all minutes has been completed.

Currently, the National Electoral Council has processed 84% of ballots, but previously the difference between the candidates was so small that it was within the margin of statistical error.

Therefore, it was not possible to identify a clear trend, a situation known as technical breakeven.

The electoral authority must continue the counting process and, once it is completed, in accordance with Honduran law, must declare the winner or if there is a numerical tie.

This announcement must be made no later than 30 calendar days after the election, and published the following day in the Official Gazette La Gaceta.

In the event of a strict tie, and both candidates receive the same number of votes, the votes will be recounted in a special counting process.

If a tie persists after this new count, the legislation provides that a new election must be called within 20 calendar days after a tie is declared.

In this scenario, elections will be held only between tied candidates.

This scenario is not impossible, but it is statistically unlikely.

On Monday, while the Central Electoral Council called for “calm” during the counting of votes, both Nasrallah and Asfoura confirmed that they would win the elections.

Nasrallah posted on social media his predictions for the votes that, according to him, would make him the winner of Sunday’s elections.

He later clarified in another message: “We do not declare ourselves winners, we only show the results that will go into the CNE in the next few hours.”

This is Nasrallah’s fourth attempt for the presidency.

In 2022, in his previous attempt, he abandoned his aspirations and joined the formula of the leftist proposal put forward by Xiomara Castro as Vice President.

For his part, Governor Asfoura also spoke after the end of the initial count of the National Electoral Council, asking his followers to be patient, despite his assertion that the results were in his party’s favor.

This is the second time that the former mayor of Tegucigalpa, who campaigned with the catchy slogan “Pope on Call” (which he also used in other elections), has run for the highest public office in Honduras.

In the days leading up to the election, Donald Trump openly expressed his support in several messages posted on his social network Truth Social and announced the pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was serving a 45-year prison sentence in the United States for drug trafficking and had once been a leader of the National Party.

Trump also threatened to cut off financial aid to the Central American country if Asfoura, who pre-election polls put him in third place, did not win.

On Monday afternoon, Trump posted a message in which he referred to the vote counting process.

“It appears that Honduras is trying to change the results of its presidential election. If they do, they will have to pay a heavy price!” The president wrote on social media without providing evidence.

In addition to electing the president, Honduran citizens had to vote to choose 128 members of the national parliament, 20 representatives in the Central American Parliament, and the authorities of the country’s 298 municipalities.

The new government that will emerge from these elections will have to respond to the expectations of a country in which more than 60% of families live in conditions of poverty and whose reality is characterized by organized crime, political violence and corruption.

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