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The centrist candidate in Honduras's knife-edge presidential election, Salvador Nasralla, has alleged "corrupt people" of manipulating the vote count in the country.

Nine days after the election, the electoral council has still not declared a winner, but the latest results suggest that Nasry "Tito" Asfura, the conservative candidate backed by US President Donald Trump, holds a narrow lead.

Nasralla, who had been leading earlier on before falling to second place, stated on social media: "This is theft."

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

Narrow Results and Growing Unrest

With 98.77% of votes counted, Asfura had just over forty percent of the vote, ahead of Nasralla with under forty percent and Moncada with just under twenty percent, according to the National Electoral Council's (CNE) update.

Patience has worn thin over the last week as the counting stalled several times, sometimes for extended periods.

Representatives of the CNE blamed "system glitches."

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

Trump's Endorsement and Surprise Pardon

The period preceding the election was dominated by Trump's support for Nasry "Tito" Asfura.

Shortly before the vote, Trump backed the former mayor of Tegucigalpa, stating that "We can work together to fight the Narcocommunists."

"We will be very supportive should Asfura win, but the United States will not be wasting resources, because a wrong Leader can only bring disastrous outcomes," 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 serving a 45-year prison sentence in the US for conspiring to import cocaine.

His pardon and subsequent release has stunned Honduran authorities, who issued an international arrest warrant for Hernández, who remains in the US.

Rising Tensions and Allegations of Interference

Meanwhile, tension has been rising as the lead in the vote count changed a number of times.

Trump accused the CNE of "seeking to alter" the outcome when Nasralla overtook Asfura early on.

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

Ever since the Trump-endorsed Asfura took the lead, it has been his two rivals crying foul.

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

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

Nasralla blamed unnamed "bad actors" for "holding up the counting process."

According to the nation's regulations, the CNE has until 30 December to announce a victor.