A member of Honduras’ electoral council has accused one of her colleagues of trying to derail proceedings while the Central American country awaits the results of Sunday’s presidential election.
In a social media post on Tuesday, Cosette López-Osorio of the National Electoral Council (CNE) alleged that her fellow panelist, Marlon Ochoa, tried to delay the press conference through “threats”.
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“Press conference interrupted to mark resumption of release of results,” López-Osorio wrote.
“Councilor Marlon Ochoa opposed the resumption of the process and sent members of the LIBRE party as well as members of his staff to attack the Hotel Plaza Juan Carlos and engage in acts of intimidation to prevent a public appearance.”
The allegations add to the already heated atmosphere surrounding Sunday’s race.
Currently, the vote count is tied between two candidates: Salvador Nasrallah of the center-right Liberal Party and Nasri “Tito” Asfura of the right-wing National Party.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Nasrallah was leading with more than 39.93 percent of the vote, followed by Asfura with 39.86 percent.
A former front-runner in the race, Rixie Moncada of the left-leaning LIBRE party, was trailing in early vote counts. According to the CNE, approximately 20 percent of the votes are to be counted.
Quarreling at the council
But even before the first ballots were cast in Sunday’s election, the council was riven by controversy, leading to allegations of malpractice by the three leading parties.
The CNE is led by a three-person panel. Each CNE councilor is elected by the Honduran Legislative Assembly 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 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 and conspired with the Honduran military to influence the outcome.
Lopez-Osorio has denied the allegations. “These are fake recordings,” she told Honduran newspaper La Prensa, calling Ochoa’s complaint “insulting.”
Nevertheless, Attorney General Joel Zelaya opened an investigation into the audio recording on October 29.
Meanwhile, Ochoa continued to raise doubts about the electoral process as the November 30 vote approaches.
On November 9, for example, he posted A test of the voting system has “failed” citing connectivity issues on social media.
The result, he said, was “further evidence that the leaked audios are real and that there is a conspiracy against the election process, which is being hatched from within the electoral body itself”.
The CNE has also faced other high-profile conflicts. Also in October, Roosevelt Hernandez, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Honduras, said the armed forces would try to count their own votes.
But CNE president Ana Paola Hall, a member of the Liberal Party, rejected their demand, and legal experts said there was no constitutional basis for the Honduran military to review the results.
Trouble at the ballot box
There have long been fears of irregularities and election interference in Honduras’ presidential race.
In March, for example, advocates argued that long lines and delays in the distribution of election materials hindered voter turnout. Due to the delay, some polling stations were open till late night.
This week’s vote tally was also disrupted due to a government website crash. In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, López-Osorio addressed some “technical glitches” and “transmission issues” that have affected proceedings.
She denied that Hiccup was part of any kind of conspiracy. “It’s literally a technical glitch in the disclosure platform,” she told CNN host Fernando del Rincon.
López-Osorio explained that the CNE is “looking for an explanation” and is in contact with ASD SAS, the company in charge of the technology. The counting of votes will continue, she added.
“We have a very narrow margin and we have a large number of ballots to process these remaining days,” she said.
A statement published on the CNE website echoed her comments. “CNE demands that ASD SAS provide technical solutions as soon as possible, so that all citizens can have full and permanent access to statistical data,” it read in part.
Still, those comments are unlikely to dampen efforts to contest the election results in the future.
Already, United States President Donald Trump – a supporter of right-wing Asfura – has raised claims of election fraud with posts on his online platform Truth Social.
“Looks like Honduras is trying to change the results of their presidential election. If they do, they will pay!” Trump wrote on monday
Leftist candidate Moncada is also set to challenge the result. In a statement this week, she denounced Trump’s “imperial foreign interference” in the election process. She also cited the primary election results as evidence that the October audio leak was genuine.
“The election is not lost,” she wrote. “The two-party system imposed its electoral ploy on us after a trap exposed by 26 audio recordings.”
She added, “I declare that I will maintain my position and I will not surrender.”
For her part, López-Osorio urged voters to be vigilant and ended her post about her colleague Ochoa with the message: “Be careful, Honduran people”.