Honduras starts special count of final votes in its presidential election after pressure from the US

TEGUCIGALPA — Honduras electoral officials on Thursday launched a special count of the final set of votes in the country's November presidential election, after three weeks of uncertainty, swirling accusations and pressure from the Trump administration to wrap up the results.

The special count includes 2,792 ballot boxes from the Nov. 30 election. It's unclear how long it will take.

So far, electoral authorities had counted 99.80% of the ballots, but the election is marked by razor thin margins and accusations of a number of regularities, which have prompted the special count.

Ana Paola Hall, president of the National Electoral Council, said the count was being carried out in the "presence of national and international observers.''

The process had been paralyzed due to disputes over the final count, fueling wider political uncertainty and U.S. demands to wrap up vote tallies. On Wednesday night, the U.S. State Department warned Honduran electoral authorities to ''immediately'' finalize results and that any calls to disrupt the process would ''be met with consequences.''

''The voices of 3.4 million Hondurans must be respected and upheld,'' the department said on X.

The country's two leading candidates, both conservatives, are neck-and-neck, in a clear repudiation of the country's ruling leftist President Xiomara Castro and her LIBRE, or Liberty and Re-foundation party.

Rixi Moncada, who ran for the ruling progressive LIBRE, or Liberty and Re-foundation party, is in third place with 19.28% of the votes.

U.S. President Donald Trump backed Asfura in the lead up to the election, fueling accusations of election intervention by his opponents, namely Castro.

For Castro, the election was a political reckoning — she was elected in 2021 on a promise to reduce violence and root out corruption in Honduras. Castro, is the wife of former President Manuel ''Mel'' Zelaya, who was removed from power in a 2009 coup.

She was among a group of progressive leaders in Latin American elected on a hopeful message of change, but are now being cast out after failing to deliver on their vision.

''LIBRE paid the price of finally getting to the presidency, to the driving seat and not being able to deliver what it promised,'' said Tiziano Breda, a senior analyst for Latin America and Caribbean at Armed Conflict Location & Event Data.

LIBRE has previously called for the election results to be annulled because of Trump's curveballs thrown in the midsts of its election, and analysts warned that the party may be slow-walking the vote counting process in a push to milk any political leverage it has left. But they added there's little the ruling party can do because their loss was so definitive.

On Thursday, Castro announced in a speech that she would honor the results of the election.

''Even in these difficult circumstances, I have been respectful of the law and the Constitution of the Republic, and to maintain peace in our country ... I will respect the winner,'' Castro said.

___