Explainer-Why is Honduras’ presidential election in turmoil weeks after voting?

MEXICO CITY, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Honduras’ presidential election took place on November 30 but nearly three weeks later there is still no clarity on who will be the country’s next president. The chaotic elections have been rocked by a fumbled vote tallying process, allegations of fraud and U.S. intervention.

Where does the vote count stand?

Conservative Nasry Asfura of the National Party is ahead of the center-right candidate Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party by around 43,000 votes, out of more than 3 million cast. But there are still hundreds of thousands of votes that have not been counted due to inconsistencies with the tally sheets. On Thursday, Honduras’ National Electoral Council finally began the process of overseeing a manual count of those votes. What are the protests about?Protesters, mainly linked to the ruling leftist LIBRE party, say the election has been marred by fraud and are demanding a full manual recount of the more than three million ballots cast. The electoral body has said the protests –  some of which took place outside the offices where tally sheets are being stored – made it impossible to start the manual count of the roughly 15% of votes with inconsistencies, leading to days of delays. The candidate for the LIBRE party, Rixi Moncada, is a distant third in the vote count. Nasralla has also called for a full recount. The president of Honduras’ electoral council says a vote-by-vote recount is not necessary because there is no concrete evidence of irregularities. How did we get here? While the election day vote on November 30 went fairly smoothly, the tallying of the votes has been plagued by problems. The company hired to oversee the process delayed the vote count multiple times in order to conduct maintenance on its software. The delays, as well as the large number of inconsistent tally sheets, have fueled concerns of tampering in a country with a history of electoral fraud allegations. The European Union and the Organization of American States have criticized the delays in the vote count but have not raised concerns of systematic fraud.  What are the next steps? Honduras’ electoral council has until December 30 to certify the election. The electoral council is overseen by three officials representing each of the major political parties. At least two of the three representatives have to agree to certify the election result. If they fail to do so, it will fall to Honduras’ Congress to certify the result. If Congress fails to recognize the results, it could extend President Xiomara Castro’s term for up to two more years and call for new elections.What is the United States’ role in the elections? U.S. involvement has overshadowed the election and triggered complaints of improper interference. U.S. President Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind Asfura and suggested U.S. support of Honduras is conditional on Asfura winning. Trump also alleged possible fraud in the election, without providing evidence. The U.S. Department of State has called for a quick resolution of the manual count and the announcement of final results.

(Reporting by Emily Green and Diego Ore; Editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Edmund Klamann)