The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Honduras will begin this Saturday a special recount of 2,773 ballots that present inconsistencies and could tip the balance in defining the elected president, following the November 30 elections with a very close result between two conservative candidates, an official source told EFE this Friday.
Hondurans voted to elect a president, three vice-presidents, 298 mayoralties, 128 deputies to the local Parliament, and 20 to the Central American one.
The electoral co-director of the CNE, Lino Tomás Mendoza, said that 2,000 people will begin the recount this Saturday once the credential validation and extension processes are concluded.
There is no second round of voting in Honduras, and the candidate who gets the most votes wins.
The general coordinator of Libre, former President Manuel Zelaya, who is also the husband and main advisor to President Xiomara Castro, stated last Tuesday that the presidential formula in the elections was won by Nasralla, which is interpreted as a tacit recognition of the defeat of the ruling party.
The electoral race is between Nasry 'Tito' Asfura, from the National Party, who leads with 40.52% of the vote and has the support of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and Salvador Nasralla, from the Liberal Party, who has 39.20% and questions the result published by the CNE based on the 99.40% of the recount.
Nasralla formed an alliance with Libre in the presidential formula in the general elections of 2021 that helped Xiomara Castro's victory and was appointed presidential (vice president) of her government, but in less than a year and a half he resigned due to marked differences with the head of state and her husband and advisor.
Each political party accredited 400 representatives for this special recount, which will be held in two daily 12-hour shifts and will have 150 receiving tables, Mendoza specified.
He indicated that the special recount will be carried out in the presence of representatives of the five political parties that participated in the general elections of November 30, of the CNE, and of national and international observers to guarantee the transparency of the process.
The candidate of the ruling Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre, left), Rixi Moncada, is in third place with 618,448 votes (19.29%).
He added that this process could be completed next week, although the CNE has until December 30 to announce the official results.
