Honduran Electoral Council Publishes Partial Results as President Castro Warns of Irregularities

The electoral day on November 30 in Honduras culminated with the National Electoral Council‘s disclosure of initial preliminary presidential results. These figures, representing 34.25% of processed ballots, immediately stirred intense nationwide expectation.

Pre-election polls focused on the candidacies of former Defence Minister Rixi Moncada (FREE Party, LIBRE in Spanish) and the right-wing contenders: former Tegucigalpa Mayor Nasry Asfura (National Party) and television host Salvador Nasralla (Liberal Party). Nelson Avila of the Innovation and Social Democratic Unity Party and Mario Enrique Rivera Callejas of the Christian Democratic Party of Honduras also took part in the race.

During a crucial public session around 10 P.M. local time, the Plenary of the National Electoral Council presided by Ana Paula Hall Garcia and composed by Marlon David Ochoa Martinez and Cosett Alejandra Lopez, announced the first provisional electoral results, which show the candidate of the National Party Nasry Asfura leading the electoral race.
Preliminary vote count: 34.25% tally sheets

These data, which reflect 34.25% of the presidential level -votes counted mainly from urban areas- is more agile were disclosed with the warning of their preliminary nature, intended only to partially inform the citizenry.

    Tally Sheets Counted: 6,559 out of 19,152

    National Party of Honduras: 530,073 votes
    Liberal Party of Honduras: 506,316 votes
    Freedom and Refoundation (Libre): 255,972 votes
    Innovation and Social Democratic Unity Party (Pinu-SD): 10,698 votes
    Christian Democratic Party of Honduras (PDCH): 2,152 votes

In addition to the presidency, voters were also electing 128 primary legislators and their alternates for the National Congress, 20 representatives to the Central American Parliament (Parlacen), 298 mayors, 298 deputy mayors, and 2,168 municipal council members.
Freedom and Refoundation Party’s accusations of fraud

The data released corresponds to 34.25% of the processed acts. However, this initial bulletin is overshadowed by repeated warnings from the Freedom and Refoundation Party, which had already anticipated and publicly denounced an alleged plan to sabotage the national voting system.

In days after presidential elections, Honduras’ Attorney General’s Office has accused the opposition parties of planning to commit voter fraud, a claim they deny, exposing audio recordings that evidenced a right-wing conspiracy to reject the election results.

In the recordings, electoral councilor Cossette Lopez, business leaders and representatives of the National and Liberal parties can be heard conspiring to proclaim Liberal Party candidate Salvador Nasralla as president-elect by manipulating the Preliminary Electoral Results Transmission System (TREP), revealing illegal pressure, negotiations, and coordination aimed at preventing the victory of Rixi Moncada, the presidential candidate of the leftist Free Party.

In this sense, Honduras’ Presidential Candidate Rixi Moncada and President Xiomara Castro denounced a hacking attempt against the Preliminary Electoral Results Transmission System (TREP, in Spanish), warning of irregularities in the initial figures released by Electoral Authorities.

Both leaders denounced a “plan of sabotage” and a “psychological war” aimed at manipulating the popular will and urged citizens to remain vigilant, monitor the process, and defend the vote against what they described as foreseeable manipulation.

Candidate Moncada also called on supporters to “remain steadfast” until the announcement of the final results “with 100% of the presidential, mayoral, and legislative tally sheets.” She added that she would announce her political position regarding thepresidential results at a press conference for the following day.

Text reads: Grateful to the Free Party and our people, who massively went out to vote for my proposal of economic and democratic reform. I ask you to keep us in the fight until we get the final results with 100% of the presidential acts, mayors and deputies. Tomorrow at a press conference, I will report my political position regarding the presidential results published by the National Electoral Council.

For his part, former President Manuel Zelaya -deposed in the 2009 coup d’état-, emphasized on his X profile the social an democratic policies conducted by President Xiomara Castro Government and also called to wait for the total vote count.

Text reads: FREE is a party of ideals proven in the streets and with great social and democratic results in the exercise of the presidency with Xiomara Castro. The request to keep us on our feet until we get the final count with 100% of the final scrutiny, mayors and deputies of our candidate Rixi Moncada, is the moral, patriotic and attached to a full truth that the people ordered in the polls and we can not ignore.

In these context, U.S. President Donald Trump publicly expressed his support for businessman Nasry Asfura and asserted that if Asfura won, his administration would pardon former president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted in the United States on drug-trafficking charges.