Tegucigalpa, Honduras – December 11, 2025 – Honduras plunged deeper into political chaos Wednesday when the Standing Committee of the National Congress announced it will refuse to ratify the results of the November 30 general elections, denouncing an “ongoing electoral coup” orchestrated by domestic criminal networks and direct interference from U.S. President Donald Trump.
In a strongly worded statement, the committee declared that the National Congress “will not validate a process tainted by internal pressures from organized crime structures linked to drug trafficking—gangs such as MS-13, Barrio 18, among others—and even less by external pressures and the direct violation of the freedom of voters.” The announcement has sparked protests outside the National Electoral Council (CNE) headquarters and threats of nationwide strikes.
The committee singled out Trump for two public statements posted on Truth Social on November 26 and 28—72 and 48 hours before the election—in which he openly endorsed conservative National Party candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura, praised him as a partner against “Narcocommunists,” and warned that U.S. aid would be cut off if Asfura lost. “We absolutely condemn the interference of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who, through public statements, threatened and coerced Honduran citizens, altering the free exercise of suffrage,” the statement read. It added: “A people subjected to threats cannot vote freely, and therefore elections conducted under such conditions lack full democratic and legal validity.”
Trump’s comments were widely interpreted as economic coercion in a country where U.S. aid exceeds $193 million annually and remittances from Hondurans living in the United States represent 27 percent of GDP. Critics say the threats particularly influenced poorer and migrant-dependent communities.
Domestic irregularities were cited as equally grave. The committee accused the CNE of deliberately disabling mandatory biometric voter verification, rendering thousands of tally sheets invalid and “contaminating” both physical records and the digital Preliminary Electoral Results Transmission System (TREP). The TREP, operated by Colombian firm Grupo ASD, suffered repeated outages, halted updates for up to 40 hours, and showed discrepancies in over 86 percent of processed tally sheets.
These technical failures were compounded by 26 leaked audio recordings—verified by international experts—purportedly capturing CNE officials and opposition figures discussing plans to hack the TREP, prematurely proclaim a winner, and delay ballot delivery. Additional leaks exposed coordination among business elites, military officers, and political parties to “alter the popular vote.”
With 99.4 percent of ballots counted, Asfura holds a narrow lead of more than 42,000 votes over Liberal Party candidate Salvador Nasralla, with LIBRE’s Rixi Moncada trailing in third place. The count has been marked by dramatic swings: early results showed Asfura ahead by just 500 votes, Nasralla briefly surged to a 14,000-vote lead, and updates were frozen for days before resuming and restoring Asfura’s advantage.
President Xiomara Castro and her LIBRE party have called the process a “monumental fraud” and an “electoral coup,” mobilizing supporters for protests and planning an extraordinary congressional session on December 15. LIBRE lawmakers have instructed members to block ratification until a full recount or new elections are held.
International observers from the Organization of American States (OAS) and European Union have urged calm, noting that the TREP is only preliminary and that official results are still pending within the 30-day legal window. However, they acknowledged significant irregularities in biometric implementation and TREP performance.
The crisis has revived painful memories of the disputed 2017 election, which triggered months of deadly protests after incumbent Juan Orlando Hernández was declared the winner amid widespread fraud allegations. Hernández was later extradited to the United States, convicted on drug-trafficking charges, and sentenced to 45 years—only to be pardoned and released by President Trump on December 2, a move seen as further bolstering the National Party.
As clashes erupted outside CNE offices and the military deployed to protect ballot storage sites, Honduras now faces the prospect of a prolonged institutional deadlock. With the presidential inauguration scheduled for January 27, the congressional committee’s refusal to certify the results could force a recount, annulment, or even fresh elections—risking economic collapse and a new wave of migration in a country where 60 percent of the population lives in poverty.
For millions of Hondurans, the events of the past two weeks have crystallized a bitter reality: once again, their vote appears to have been overshadowed by powerful domestic elites, organized crime, and the long arm of Washington.
