The statement came as community groups said there was no evidence of fraud in November’s vote, which was led by Trump-backed candidate Asfura.
Published December 15, 2025
The head of Honduras’ National Electoral Council (CNE) has condemned efforts to obstruct the ongoing recount of the Central American country’s presidential election, saying the regional body has no reason to suspect fraud in the Nov. 30 vote.
Ana Paola Hall’s Monday statement comes amid continued protests and unrest over the unresolved election. Nasri Asfullah, a right-wing businessman who has been publicly supported by US President Donald Trump, holds a narrow lead over his main challenger, Salvador Nasrallah.
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At least 99% of the votes have already been counted, but the CNE announced that around 2,800 votes will need to be re-counted through a special recount.
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Observers said infighting within the CNE, run by three representatives from each of the major political parties, was delaying reaching a final result.
Both Nasrallah, a conservative, and outgoing leftist President Xiomara Castro have claimed that the vote was fraudulent, but several international missions have dismissed these claims.
Regional organization Organization of American States (OAS) said on Monday that despite a lack of election monitoring expertise, “there was no evidence to cast doubt on the results.”
OAS official Eladio Loyzaga said in a report read to the group’s members that the organization’s mission “urgently calls on election authorities to immediately begin a special recount and consider all avenues to obtain official results as soon as possible.”
“The current delays in processing and publishing the results are not justified,” he said in the report.
The OAS statement added that its mission of 101 observers from 19 countries “observed no malicious or obvious manipulation of election materials or computer systems.” This finding coincided with that of a parallel European Union mission.
Honduras’ elections were in turmoil even before voting began, with several major political parties, politicians and foreign interference casting doubt on the integrity of the elections for months.
The most prominent scandal involved an investigation by the attorney general into Asufura National Party members who allegedly discussed plans to influence voting with military personnel.
Riqui Moncada, candidate for outgoing President Castro’s Liberal Party, later told Reuters that the alleged conspiracy proved the election was “the most rigged in history.”
Several candidates have also criticized President Trump’s influence, and Trump endorsed Asufura in the final stages of the campaign and vowed to withhold U.S. funding if his candidate did not win.
Two days before the vote, the US president also pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández, a former Honduran president and member of the National Party who was convicted of drug trafficking in the US.
Authorities in Honduras, a country of about 11 million people, later issued a new arrest warrant for Hernandez.
