The Honduran National Congress Standing Committee announced that it will not recognize the results of the country's presidential election, citing irregularities, pressure and foreign interference.
This was stated in an official statement by the legislature.
“The National Congress will not accept an electoral process tainted by internal pressure from organized crime groups linked to drug trafficking, gangs such as MS-13, 18 and others, and especially by external pressure and direct violations of voter freedom“, the committee said.
The statement claims that an “ongoing electoral coup“ is taking place in Honduras, undermining the integrity and legitimacy of elections. The parliamentarians condemned the interference of US President Donald Trump in the electoral process, calling the actions of the American president “a threat to the people of Honduras“, and the political pardon of the former president of the Central American country, convicted in the US for drug trafficking, “an unprecedented act of pressure on the sovereignty of the state“.
The parliamentarians also condemned the system for transmitting the preliminary results of the elections, which “did not function properly“. “Elections held under such conditions do not have full democratic and legal validity“, the statement noted.
The Congress stressed that it would defend the constitution, sovereignty and democratic will of the people “from any attempt at manipulation or external interference“.
Earlier, Ana Paola Hall, president of the National Electoral Council of Honduras, said in a statement that the interruptions in the publication of the results of the presidential election on November 30 were due to technical maintenance carried out by ASD, the company hired to manage the electoral process, without consultation or approval from the full electoral commission.
According to the electoral council, after processing 99.4% of the votes, Liberal Party candidate Salvador Nasralla received 39.20% of the votes, National Party candidate Nasri Asfura received 40.52%. The difference between them is 9,483 votes.
Rixi Moncada, a candidate of the ruling leftist Party of Freedom and Perestroika, is in third place with 19.29%.
Trump earlier said that the vote count in the presidential election in Honduras had ended prematurely. According to him, the country “seems to be trying to change the results of the presidential election“ and warned that if this happens, the country “will pay dearly“.
On the eve of the election, Trump urged Hondurans to vote for Asfura. He called Moncada a communist and Nasrallah “almost a communist“. The American leader called Asfura “a friend of freedom“. He pledged Washington's full support for Honduras if the National Party candidate wins. Trump also announced a pardon for former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was serving a 45-year sentence in the United States on drug trafficking charges.