US President Donald Trump-backed conservative Nasri Asfoura was declared the winner of Honduras' disputed presidential election on November 30, Reuters reported, citing a statement from the country's central electoral commission.
Official results were delayed due to technical problems and allegations of vote manipulation, the world agency said.
The electoral commission announced that National Party (NP) candidate Asfoura won 40.3 percent of the vote, while his opponent from the center-right Liberal Party, Salvador Nasralla, collected 39.5 percent. The results were so close, and the vote-counting system so chaotic, that the votes of hundreds of thousands of voters on 15% of the lists had to be counted by hand, Reuters notes.
After the announcement of the official results, the administration of US President Trump called on all parties in Honduras to accept the outcome of the election race.
"The United States calls on all parties to respect the certified results so that Honduran institutions can quickly ensure a peaceful transfer of power to the newly elected Nasri Asfoura," said a statement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, quoted by Reuters.