Sawt Falasteen - Honduran leader alleges vote tampering, US interference

The final votes are still being counted after the November 30 presidential election, and suspicions of interference have been fueled by successive computer failures that have stalled tallying.

Trump-backed conservative candidate Nasry Asfura, 67, on Monday had 40.53 percent of votes, followed closely by right-wing candidate Salvador Nasralla with 39.16 percent, according to the National Electoral Council (CNE).

Nasralla has also complained about alleged electoral corruption and on Monday described the results as "theft," arguing he was in fact leading by 20 percent.

Both are well ahead of the candidate from Castro's left-wing Libre party, Rixi Moncada.

Speaking at a rally in the center of the country, Castro said people had taken part in the election with "courage and determination."

However, she said the process was marked by "threats, coercion, manipulation of the TREP" -- the country's preliminary results system -- and "tampering with the popular will."

Castro also claimed Trump had "interfered" in the election by threatening Hondurans that there would be "consequences" if they voted for Moncada.

Trump declared his clear support for Asfura in the final stretch of the campaign, declaring him a "friend of freedom" and accusing Nasralla of merely "pretending to be an anti-communist."

Trump also issued a surprise pardon of former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who had been serving a 45-year prison sentence in the United States on drug charges of helping traffic hundreds of tons of cocaine.

Nasralla is demanding a "vote-by-vote" recount of the tallies which, according to him, show "a pattern of fraud where biometric recognition was not used and the tallies were drafted arbitrarily."

More than a week after the elections, thousands of voting records with "inconsistencies" still need to be reviewed, election officials said.

Late Sunday, the Libre party demanded "the total annulment" of the elections and called for protests and strikes, while urging officials not to cooperate with the government transition.

- Request to Interpol -

The Trump administration said Monday that the election had been fair and that there was "no credible evidence" justifying its annulment.

The electoral council has until December 30 to declare a winner, according to Honduran law.

Amid the uncertainty over who will succeed Castro, Honduran Attorney General Johel Zelaya requested Tuesday that Interpol execute an arrest warrant against ex-president Hernandez.

The warrant was issued in 2023 -- when Hernandez was already in US custody -- over alleged money laundering and fraud.

On Tuesday, Hernandez's lawyer, Renato Stabile, dismissed the prosecutor's request, linking it to a "desperate and shameful attempt" by the Honduran left to "remain in power," according to a statement to AFP in the United States.

The former Honduran president, who is from the same party as Trump's favored candidate Asfura, has ruled out returning to Honduras anyway because he fears for his life, according to his wife Ana Garcia.

S.AbuJamous--SF-PST