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The centrist candidate in Honduras's knife-edge presidential election, Salvador Nasralla, has accused "unscrupulous individuals" of tampering with the vote count in the Central American nation.

Over a week after the election, the electoral council has yet to announce a winner, but the latest results suggest that Nasry "Tito" Asfura, the conservative candidate backed by US President Donald Trump, holds a slim advantage.

Nasralla, who had been ahead in the initial stages before dropping into second place, declared on social media: "They have stolen it."

The progressive hopeful trailing in third, Rixi Moncada, has called for the vote to be invalidated and alleged US interference by Trump in the election.

Close Results and Growing Unrest

With the vast majority of votes counted, Asfura had 40.53% of the vote, leading Nasralla with under forty percent and Moncada with just under twenty percent, per the National Electoral Council's (CNE) update.

Frustration has been growing over the last week as the counting stalled several times, sometimes for days on end.

Officials from the CNE blamed "system glitches."

They have also cautioned that thousands of voting records with "inconsistencies" still need to be examined.

Trump's Backing and Surprise Pardon

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

Just days before the vote, Trump backed 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 the United States will not be throwing good money after bad, because a wrong Leader can only bring catastrophic results," Trump added.

In a surprise move two days before the election, Trump also pardoned jailed former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who stems from the same party as Asfura.

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

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

Rising Tensions and Claims of Meddling

At the same time, the situation has grown more tense as the lead in the vote count changed a number of times.

Trump claimed the CNE of "trying to change" the outcome when Nasralla pulled past Asfura early on.

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

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

Rixi Moncada's Libre party called for the "complete cancellation" of the elections.

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

Nasralla pointed the finger at unnamed "corrupt ones" for "holding up the counting process."

According to the nation's regulations, the CNE has until 30 December to declare a winner.