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The moderate candidate in Honduras's tightly contested presidential election, Salvador Nasralla, has alleged "unscrupulous individuals" of manipulating the vote count in the country.

Over a week after the election, the electoral council has still not declared a winner, but the most recent tally suggest that Nasry "Tito" Asfura, the right-wing contender backed by US President Donald Trump, holds a narrow lead.

Nasralla, who had been leading earlier on before falling to second place, stated on social media: "This is a robbery."

The progressive hopeful trailing in third, Rixi Moncada, has demanded the vote to be invalidated and accused Trump of the election.

Narrow Results and Growing Unrest

With 98.77% of votes counted, Asfura had just over forty percent of the vote, ahead of Nasralla with under forty percent and Moncada with just under twenty percent, per the National Electoral Council's (CNE) update.

Patience has worn thin over the last week as the counting stalled several times, sometimes for days on end.

Officials from the CNE attributed the delays to "technical problems."

They have also cautioned that numerous voting records with "irregularities" still need to be reviewed.

Trump's Endorsement and Surprise Pardon

The period preceding the election was overshadowed by Trump's endorsement of Nasry "Tito" Asfura.

Just days before the vote, Trump threw his weight behind the former mayor of Tegucigalpa, stating that "Tito and I can work together to fight the drug traffickers."

"Our support will be strong should Asfura win, but we will not be throwing good money after bad, because a poor choice can only bring disastrous outcomes," Trump added.

In a unexpected action two days before the election, Trump also granted clemency to jailed former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who is from the same party as Asfura.

Hernández was serving a 45-year prison sentence in the US for conspiring to import cocaine.

His clemency and freedom has shocked Honduran authorities, who have issued an international arrest warrant for Hernández, who is still in the US.

Rising Tensions and Claims of Interference

Meanwhile, the situation has grown more tense as the lead in the vote count fluctuated repeatedly.

Trump claimed the CNE of "seeking to alter" the outcome when Nasralla overtook Asfura early on.

"If they do, there will be hell to pay," the US president said without offering proof of any fraud.

Ever since the Trump-endorsed Asfura moved in the lead, it has been his two rivals alleging misconduct.

Rixi Moncada's Libre party called for the "the total annulment" of the elections.

It also urged its supporters to protest publicly against what it called "meddling and pressure of the President of the United States."

Nasralla blamed unnamed "bad actors" for "delaying the counting process."

According to the nation's regulations, the CNE has until 30 December to announce a victor.