Honduran election officials recount votes amid fraud accusations

In a warehouse the size of two basketball courts, hundreds of electoral staff and political delegates on Friday pored over thousands of votes cast nearly three weeks ago in the presidential election in Honduras, where tensions are sky-high.

The manual recount of nearly 2,800 tally sheets with suspected "inconsistencies" will determine a victor between Nasry Asfura, a 67-year-old businessman backed by US President Donald Trump, and fellow conservative Salvador Nasralla, a 72-year-old TV star.

Nasralla leads the count by just a few thousand votes, but this could well change with nearly 500,000 ballots affected by the recount that has the Central American country on edge.

Outside the CNE electoral council's headquarters and elsewhere in the capital Tegucigalpa, Hondurans expressed distrust in the protracted count, marred by computer system failures and accusations of fraud.

"We don't trust the authorities," said Carlos Castillo, a 53-year-old supporter of the ruling leftist Libre party, whose candidate, Rixi Moncada, was trailing in a distant third place.

"They're committing the same old frauds," Castillo told AFP outside the electoral center where staff carried out their work wearing latex gloves under the watchful eye of CCTV cameras.

The count was streamed live on the CNE's YouTube channel, viewed by many Hondurans with rising suspicion despite observers from the Americas and Europe saying they saw no evidence of fraud.

After clashes between protesters and law enforcers earlier in the week, soldiers on Friday patrolled the perimeter of the CNE centre, from which journalists were barred.

On the wall outside, someone had put up a poster demanding a "vote-by-vote" recount and calling CNE officials "rats."

'Now they're counting'

The CNE legally has until December 30 to announce a winner.

Council official Bladimir Bastida said Friday the recount could be completed within hours, though an announcement could take longer with Nasralla insisting on a full audit of the entire process.

On Wednesday, thousands of Libre supporters staged a demonstration in Tegucigalpa, during which a soldier was injured.

The previous day, at least eight civilians were hurt when police broke up a similar protest.

By Friday, relative quiet had been returned to the capital.

"Everything's calm now because there's going to be a president. Before we thought there wouldn't be, but now they're counting," 68-year-old attorney Sandra Suazo told AFP, assuaged by the start of the special recount.

An undercurrent of fear remained, however.

Used car salesman Norman Sierra, 56, said business has been slow as he avoids venturing out to bring vehicles to potential clients.

"It's scary because there could be protests and there could be stone-throwing," he told AFP.

Fruit seller Fran Bulnes, 46, said business had never been so sluggish, but he was hopeful things would settle down.

"People were uncertain, just talking about the news and not knowing who was going to win, but the hope is that it gets better now — I think it's calmer," Bulnes said.