Honduras election: Trump-backed candidate holds slim lead

US President Donald Trump has threatened to cut aid to Honduras if Nasry Asfura, of the right-wing National Party, is unsuccessful in the presidential election.

The Honduran presidential candidate backed by US President Donald Trump maintained a slim lead in the tight race, preliminary results showed early on Monday. 

Nasry "Tito" Asfura of the right-wing National Party had about 41% of the votes in early counting, followed by Liberal Party contender Salvador Nasralla with about 39%.

Rixi Moncada of the ruling LIBRE party trailed at around 20%.

A little more than 40% of ballots have been counted till early Monday.

Both Asfura and Nasralla contended that it was too premature to claim victory.

The winner with a simple majority will govern the Central American country from 2026 to 2030.

Earlier, Trump intervened in the close presidential race by threatening to cut aid to the country if his favored candidate, Asfura, is not successful.

Trump also announced that he would pardon a former President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

Who are the candidates for the next president of Honduras?

Honduras could be the next country in Latin America, after Argentina and Bolivia, to lurch to the right after years of leftist rule.

Polls show three candidates neck-and-neck in the race to succeed leftist President Xiomara Castro, whose husband, Manuel Zelaya, also led the country before being toppled in a 2009 coup.

Trump-backed Asfura, 60-year-old lawyer Rixi Moncada from the ruling Libre party, and 72-year-old TV host Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party are the leading candidates to become the next president of Honduras.

Trump's threat

Polls opened at 7 a.m. local time (1300 GMT), with the first results expected late Sunday after the voting stations close at 5 p.m.

Trump has conditioned continued financial support for one of Latin America's poorest countries on Asfura, the 67-year-old former mayor of Honduras' capital Tegucigalpa, winning.

"If he (Asfura) doesn't win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad," he posted on Friday on his Truth Social platform, echoing threats he made in support of Argentine President Javier Milei's party in recent midterms.

Trump also announced on Friday he planned to pardon former Honduran President Hernandez, of the National Party, who is serving a 45-year prison sentence in the United States for cocaine trafficking and other charges.

The elections, in which the 128 members of Congress, hundreds of mayors, and thousands of other public officials will also be elected, are taking place in a polarized climate, with the three top candidates accusing each other of fraud.

Moncada has even suggested she will not recognize the official results.

Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko