In a social media post on Tuesday, Cosette Lopez-Osorio of the National Electoral Council (CNE) alleged that her fellow panel member, Marlon Ochoa, sought to delay a press conference through “intimidation.”
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“The press conference held to mark the resumption of the release of results was disrupted,” López-Osorio wrote.
“Councillor Marlon Ochoa opposed restarting the process and sent LIBRE party members, as well as members of his staff, to attack the Hotel Plaza Juan Carlos, engaging in acts of intimidation to prevent public attendance.”
The allegations further escalated the already heated atmosphere surrounding Sunday’s race.
Currently, two candidates are in hot water as votes continue to be counted: Salvador Nasralla of the center-right Liberal Party and Nasri “Tito” Asfura of the right-wing National Party.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Nasrallah had led with more than 39.93 percent of the vote, while Asfura was close behind with 39.86 percent.
The former frontrunner in the race, Rixi Moncada of the left-leaning LIBRE party, had fallen behind in the early vote count. According to CNE, about 20 percent of the votes are yet to be tallied.
infighting in the council
But even before the first ballots were cast in Sunday’s election, controversy had engulfed the council, resulting in allegations of misconduct by all three major parties.
The CNE is led by a three-person panel. Each CNE councilor is elected by the legislature of Honduras to represent the three main political parties: the Liberal Party, the National Party and LIBRE, the party of outgoing President Xiomara Castro.
López-Osorio represents the National Party. She has had a tumultuous relationship with her LIBRE counterpart, Ochoa.
In October, Ochoa filed a complaint with federal prosecutors, alleging that López-Osorio was caught on audio recording conspiring with the Honduran military to influence the results.
López-Osorio has denied the allegations. “These are fabricated recordings,” she told Honduran newspaper La Prensa, calling Ochoa’s complaint “outrageous.”
Yet Attorney General Zohel Zelaya began an investigation into the audio recording on October 29.
Meanwhile, as the November 30 vote approached, Ochoa continued to raise doubts about the election proceedings.
For example, on November 9, he posted on social media that a test of the voting system had “failed”, citing connectivity issues.
“This result is further proof that the leaked audios are true and a conspiracy against the electoral process, hatched from within the electoral body itself,” he said.
The CNE has also faced other high-profile conflicts. Also in October, Honduras’ Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Roosevelt Hernandez said the armed forces would try to conduct their own vote count.
But CNE president, Liberal Party member Ana Paola Hall, rejected their demand, and legal experts have said there is no constitutional basis for the Honduran military to review the results.
trouble at the ballot box
Fears of irregularities and electoral interference have long loomed large in the Honduras presidential race.
For example, in March, advocates argued that long lines and delays in the distribution of election materials deter voters from participating in the election. Due to the delay, some polling stations remained open till late night.
This week’s vote counting also came to a halt due to the government website crashing. In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, López-Osorio addressed some “technical failures” and “transmission issues” that have affected the proceedings.
He denied that Hichki was part of any kind of conspiracy. “This is literally a technical failure in the disclosure platform,” he told CNN host Fernando del Rincón.
López-Osorio reported that the CNE was “looking for clarification” and was in contact with ASD SAS, the company in charge of the technology. Counting of votes will continue, he said.
“We have a very narrow margin, and we also have a massive amount of ballots to process in these remaining days,” he said.
His comments were reiterated in a statement published on the CNE website. “The CNE demands that ASD SAS provide the fastest possible technical solution, so that all citizens have full and permanent access to statistical data,” it read in part.
Still, those comments are unlikely to impact efforts to contest the election results in the coming days.
Already, United States President Donald Trump – a supporter of the right-wing Asfura – has amplified claims of election fraud with posts on his online platform Truth Social.
“It appears that Honduras is trying to change the results of their presidential election. If they do, they will pay a heavy price!” Trump wrote on Monday.
Leftist candidate Moncada also appears ready to challenge the results. In a statement this week, he condemned Trump for “imperial foreign interference” in the election process. He cited the preliminary election results as proof that the October audio leak was authentic.
“The elections have not been lost,” he wrote. “After the trap exposed by 26 audio recordings, the two-party system imposed its election conspiracy on us.”
“I declare that I will retain my position and will not surrender,” she said.
For his part, López-Osorio also called on voters to remain vigilant, and ended his post about his colleague Ochoa with the message: “Be vigilant, people of Honduras”.
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