By Laura Garcia and Sarah Kinosian
TEGUCIGALPA, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Nasry Asfura, the conservative candidate backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, clung to a razor-thin advantage in Honduras' presidential race on Friday as counting stretched into its sixth day in the tight contest drawing close attention from Washington.
With 86.54% of ballots tallied, Asfura of the National Party had 40.21%, about 20,450 votes ahead of centrist rival Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party, who stood at 39.48%, according
to the electoral authority. Rixi Moncada of the ruling leftist LIBRE Party remained well behind in third place.
Some 14% of ballots showed inconsistencies, officials said, and would be reviewed.
"Democracy is on trial in this election in Honduras. The Honduran people deserve to have their will respected and voices heard," Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said on X Thursday evening. "The world’s eyes, including ours, are on Honduras."
Trump has repeatedly intervened in the race, endorsing Asfura and alleging fraud without providing evidence.
Nasralla, a three-time presidential hopeful who identifies as center-right, told Reuters that Trump's surprise endorsement last week of the conservative Asfura had flipped the race, and he rejected Trump's label of him as a "borderline communist."
Trump's backing of Asfura, experts say, fits in to his push to mold a conservative bloc across Latin America, stretching from Nayib Bukele in El Salvador to Javier Milei in Argentina.
Trump also pardoned former National Party leader Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was serving a 45-year U.S. sentence on drug trafficking and weapons charges.
Contested Honduran elections - such as in 2017 - have previously led to massive street protests and state violence, but Tegucigalpa remained calm on Friday as citizens awaited final results.
Honduras elects its president in a single round. The candidate with the most votes wins, even if the margin is narrow or the candidate falls short of a majority.
The electoral authority, known as the CNE, has called for calm and patience while the final votes are counted and inconsistent ballots reviewed. CNE head Ana Paola Hall said the process would take time but be delivered by the legal deadline of December 30.
(Reporting by Laura Garcia in Tegucigalpa and Sarah Kinosian in Mexico City; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
