Why the results of the presidential election in Honduras are still not known a week after they were held

For its part, the ruling Libre party called on Sunday afternoon for the “total annulment” of the elections and called for mobilizations, protests and strikes.

The research shows that its candidate and political successor to President Xiomara Castro, Rixi Moncada, is in third place with 19.32% of the vote, far from the two main opponents.

The Organization of American States’ election observation mission has asked electoral authorities to speed up the counting process to end the uncertainty afflicting the Central American country. We will explain some of the reasons for this below.

One of the first explanations for the delay in publishing the results of the close elections was the technical problems of the ASD company.

The Colombian company was appointed by the CNE to be responsible for the transmission of preliminary data, general verification and dissemination of the election results.

“During the day, there was an impact on the availability of our technological infrastructure. This situation is due to an unusually high number of requests registered as of November 30, 2025 at 10:30 p.m.,” the company said in a statement.

The ASD admitted that the volume of requests was “well above the estimates of the stress tests previously carried out”.

The company guaranteed the CNE that its systems would be able to handle 200,000 requests per second 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the Honduran newspaper reported. The press.

And as if that wasn’t enough, election officials reported two cyberattacks hours later.

“The process was too extensive for (the contractor),” Fernando Cerimedo, Asfura’s assistant, told AFP.

This criticism was supported by the OAS observation mission, which denounced “the marked lack of expertise in the development and implementation, particularly of technological solutions,” during the elections.

Outgoing President Xiomara Castro’s Libre party, which came in third place, called on Sunday for the “total annulment” of the elections and claimed “interference” from the United States, AFP agency reported.

However, authorities asked both candidates and citizens to be patient, reminding them that the law gives them 30 days to declare the winner of the election.

“Let us continue our work,” demanded the President of the CNE, Ana Paola Hall.

However, to create even more confusion and doubt about the contractor’s performance, another member of the CNE, Marlon Ochoa, reported this Sunday that someone had modified “the source code of the data transmission and general audit system.”

“The transmission software was modified without using the three keys, that is, someone had access to the already sealed system, opened it, made changes and closed it again outside the guarantees provided for in Honduras’ electoral law,” said the adviser appointed by the ruling Libre party.

But it wasn’t just the ASD that had problems: on November 30, the day of the elections, a series of complaints about irregularities forced the suspension of elections in the city of San Antonio de Flores, about 80 kilometers southeast of Tegucigalpa.

The elections in this mountain town near the border with Nicaragua were repeated this Sunday, December 7, under strict security measures, and now the 4,996 voters registered in this rural town can tip the scales for one side or the other.

“Every vote, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is important,” said Nasralla, who traveled by helicopter to San Antonio de Flores on Saturday for a last-minute campaign mission, Reuters reported.

Another issue that has delayed the review is complaints about alleged anomalies in a few minutes.

Of the 16,858 minutes audited through Friday, 2,407 had “inconsistencies” that the electoral body said would force a recount of every single vote.

However, Nasralla increased the number of records with problems to 5,000.

“Stop stealing my votes in the CNE,” the Liberal Party candidate demanded on Friday, assuring that a recount of the minutes containing the problems and the rest would give him a lead of 40,000 votes over his conservative rival.

Nasralla’s complaints led the ruling Libre party to call on the CNE to cancel the elections entirely, deeming them a “disaster”.

Rixi Moncada, candidate of outgoing President Xiomara Castro’s party, is in third place with 543,675 votes (19.30%).

The ruling party’s request was rejected by Nasralla.

“We must not annul the elections, we must appoint someone who will say what has already been voted on, no matter how long it takes,” explained the presidential candidate.

The CNE plans to review 2,177 minutes this week, the Honduran newspaper reported The Herald.

This process involves comparing the dubious records with the ballot boxes, counting each vote until the true result is determined.

The closeness of this race, with a difference of less than 1% between Asfura and Nasralla, forces the referee to count every vote, even those cast outside the country’s borders.

As of the end of last week, votes abroad had not yet been counted. Of the 6.5 million Hondurans eligible to vote, about 400,000 live in the United States, the only country where election authorities have set up voting centers.

It is currently unknown how many people actually took part in the trial. However, it was estimated that each of the twelve polling stations installed in the North American country could receive 1,200 votes; that’s a total of 14,400, the Honduran newspaper reported The press.

In such a close context, these votes could also help determine a winner.

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