Tegucigalpa – The three main presidential candidates in Honduras traded fraud accusations as they wrapped up campaigning on Sunday ahead of the November 30 election, amid international fears about ensuring a free and fair vote.
🚨🇭🇳 HONDURAS ERUPTS: THOUSANDS PROTEST AGAINST SOCIALIST RULE
In Honduras, people are pouring into the streets across cities like Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, chanting “Out with Xiomara!”
They’re waving flags against President Xiomara Castro’s leftist government, who’s… pic.twitter.com/6DepzqJy7k
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) November 9, 2025
The presidential contest is one round only, and the three hopefuls – Rixi Moncada of Castro’s ruling Libre party, along with right-wingers Nasry Asfura of the National Party and Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party – are locked in a statistical dead heat.
The 66-year-old Castro, in power since 2022, is barred by the constitution from seeking a second consecutive term.
“The fight on Sunday the 30th is between two models: oligarchy and the democratic socialism” espoused by Castro, Moncada told a crowd of supporters at her final campaign rally in the capital Tegucigalpa.
Moncada, a lawyer by training, has pledged to pursue the policies put in place by Castro, the wife of former president Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted in a 2009 coup.
Asfura, who had a career in construction before moving into politics and serving as the mayor of Tegucigalpa, urged his supporters late Saturday to turn out en masse at polling stations.
“We’re not going to accept failed ideologies,” he said, referring to Moncada.
Nasralla, a popular television host and a civil engineer by training, denounced alleged attacks on a caravan of vehicles carrying his supporters, and canceled his speech at his final rally in the capital.
He blamed Moncada’s party for “acts of vandalism” and accused her of buying votes and encouraging fraud.
I spoke yesterday with key representatives of the business community in Honduras, and to my dismay all of them expressed grave concerns about the integrity of the upcoming November 30 elections. Members of the National Electoral Council, which runs the election, tallies the…
— Christopher Landau (@DeputySecState) November 23, 2025
Nasralla also claimed she had the backing of the Cuban and Venezuelan governments.
Both Asfura and Nasralla have suggested that Moncada could enlist the military to help her commit election fraud, while Moncada has warned that her rivals have the backing of those who forced Zelaya from power.
Amid the rapid-fire accusations, the National Electoral Council started shipping ballot materials nationwide on Thursday under military guard, as required by law.
The winner of the November 30 election will succeed Castro, the first woman president of Honduras, on January 27, 2026.
The European Union and the Organization of American States have dispatched election monitors, while nine members of the US Congress – seven Republicans and two Democrats – will be on hand to observe the vote.
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Source: AFP
