The electoral mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) urged Honduran electoral authorities on Monday to begin the special scrutiny of the November 30 general elections «immediately», which have been delayed due to administrative obstacles and pending technological procedures.
«The Mission makes an urgent call to the electoral authorities to begin the special scrutiny immediately and to seek all possible ways to obtain the official results in the shortest possible time,» stated the head of the mission, Eladio Loizaga, during an extraordinary session of the OAS Permanent Council.
«The current delay in the processing and publication of results is unjustifiable,» he added.
Delay in election results in Honduras The scrutiny of the general elections resumed on Sunday with Nasry 'Tito' Asfura, of the National Party and backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, at the forefront of the count, while the National Electoral Council (CNE) has been unable to start the special recount of the ballots with inconsistencies, which is carried out separately.
Asfura maintains the lead with 1,305,033 votes (40.54%) with a narrow margin over Salvador Nasralla, of the Liberal Party, with 1,261,849 ballots (39.19%), according to 99.80% of the tally sheets.
The recount delay is due to technical failures in the system that tallies the votes, which has generated criticism from political parties, international observers, and sectors of civil society, with internal disputes within the CNE and fraud allegations by the ruling party.
«The electoral authority must make decisions expeditiously that allow the process to be expedited, as at this point, it is unacceptable to blame the software or the provider company,» asserted Loizaga.
No reason to question the results, says the OAS The former Paraguayan foreign minister also clarified that delays have been detected, but «there are no indications that cast doubt on the results».
«The circulation of fraud narratives throughout the electoral cycle from the ruling party, the opposition, and even from one of the electoral authorities, have done great damage to democratic institutions,» he denounced.
Furthermore, he pointed out that some statements made by international leaders may have increased the uncertainty of the process, so he advocated for prudence.
This message comes in the context of the condemnation of the Honduran Parliament of Trump's interference in the electoral process.
For his part, the representative of Honduras, Roberto Quesada, attacked some OAS ambassadors and stated that «to get in good with a larger country or someone who is above, they are capable of insulting officials they don't know».
The OAS mission, explained Loizaga, was able to verify that the elections took place «normally and with high voter turnout», except for some isolated incidents in some municipalities of the country.
