Honduran President Xiomara Castro has accused political actors of engineering an electoral coup as uncertainty grows around the results of the November 30 presidential election, with protests erupting in the capital and election officials struggling to finalize the count.
Castro’s warning came as hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Tegucigalpa demanding transparency after technical failures and disputed tally sheets slowed the official results, according to Reuters.
The crisis has raised fears of further instability in the Central American country just weeks before Castro is due to leave office in January.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Castro said the election process had been tainted by manipulation of the vote transmission system and pressure on electoral authorities.
“We are seeing a process marked by threats, coercion, manipulation of the TREP system and adulteration of the popular will,” Castro said, describing the situation as an effort to overturn the outcome at the ballot box. She said such actions amounted to what she called an electoral coup that her government would challenge publicly.
Castro also condemned what she described as foreign interference in the race, criticizing US President Donald Trump for backing conservative candidate Nasry Asfura.
Later on Tuesday, around 500 supporters of Castro’s left leaning LIBRE party rallied outside a building where ballots are stored, with some protesters setting fire to car tires, a Reuters witness said.
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The demonstrations followed a call from former president Manuel Zelaya, head of the LIBRE party and Castro’s husband, who urged supporters to reject what he labeled a failed and fraudulent process in a post on X.
In response to the unrest, Ana Paola Hall, head of Honduras’ National Electoral Council, asked for military support to secure the ballot storage site.
The dispute centers on thousands of tally sheets flagged for inconsistencies, which election officials say could include enough votes to change the final outcome.
With 99.4 percent of tally sheets counted as of Tuesday night, Asfura held a narrow lead of about 1.32 percentage points, roughly 40,000 votes. However, 14.5 percent of the tally sheets are set for review in a special count involving election authorities, party representatives and international observers.
Trump has publicly supported Asfura, the former mayor of Tegucigalpa, and warned he could cut US funding to Honduras if his preferred candidate loses, a stance that has intensified political tensions.
