TEGUCIGALPA, Dec 3 - Salvador Nasralla, of the centrist Liberal Party, maintained a slim lead in Honduras' presidential election on Wednesday as counting continued four days after the impoverished Central American country voted in a tightly contested race marred by delays and allegations of fraud.
After 79% of the vote had been counted, Nasralla held 40.34% with conservative National Party candidate Nasry Asfura - who has been strongly backed by U.S. President Donald Trump - trailing just behind on 39.57%.
The two front-runners were separated by 19,396 votes. Rixi Moncada, of the ruling leftist LIBRE Party, was well behind in third place with 19.01%.
Election observers, from the European Union and the Organization of American States, as well as Honduras' electoral authority have called for calm and patience as the final votes are counted. But the delay and the razor-thin margin have added to tension around the election.
Early preliminary results released on Monday had originally shown Asfura with a slim lead of some 500 votes, with election organizers declaring a "technical tie" and saying votes would have to be counted by hand.
The initial rapid count system had been beset by issues, the electoral authority later said in a statement on Tuesday. Related problems with the web portal where results were meant to be updated in real time also added to mounting frustration and concern around the management of the count.
When the vote count was updated on Tuesday, Nasralla had swung narrowly in front.
The pause in updating the results led Trump to allege possible fraud, without providing evidence, saying on social media that Honduras was "trying to change the results of their Presidential Election."
"If they do there will be hell to pay! The people of Honduras voted in overwhelming numbers on November 30th," Trump said on his Truth Social platform on Monday night.
(Reporting by Laura Garcia in Tegucigalpa; editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Brendan O'Boyle)
