Polls close in Honduras’ general election as vote counting begins

Voting ended at 5 pm local time (2300GMT), with ballot counting commencing in an election in which more than 6.5 million voters were eligible to choose 298 municipal mayors, 128 members of the National Congress and 20 representatives to the Central American Parliament.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) said preliminary results would be released Sunday night.

On the US social media company X’s platform, CNE President Ana Paola Hall said that as of midday, officials had verified 1,495,865 voters.

Ruling-party candidate Rixi Moncada declared victory hours before the count was underway, celebrating the day’s events on social media.

“The refoundation of Honduras is moving forward. We have reports from across the country, and they are excellent. We are winning the election. We must continue in peace, with dedication and love for our cause and our people,” she wrote.

Nasry Asfura of the conservative National Party, who has received public support from US President Donald Trump, also praised the electoral process.

“We have fulfilled our duty and our right to defend our democracy with love and commitment. Honduras, we are going to be okay!” he said.

While no major disturbances were widely reported by media or observers, the watchdog group Red por la Defensa de la Democracia (RDD) documented 4,427 incidents, including damaged electoral materials, missing ballots and technological issues.

RDD said the deployment of 12,000 observers across Honduras’s 18 departments provided 85% coverage of the nation’s voting centers. The group also reported that military personnel hindered observer activity in the departments of Atlantida, Cortes and Lempira, alleging that soldiers focused on scanning observers’ credentials rather than facilitating their work.

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