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The moderate candidate in Honduras's knife-edge presidential election, Salvador Nasralla, has accused "corrupt people" of manipulating the vote count in the Central American nation.

Over a week after the election, the election authority has yet to announce a winner, but the latest results suggest that Nasry "Tito" Asfura, the conservative candidate endorsed by US President Donald Trump, holds a narrow lead.

Nasralla, who had been ahead in the initial stages before falling to second place, stated on social media: "This is a robbery."

The left-wing candidate placed in third, Rixi Moncada, has demanded the vote to be invalidated and alleged US interference by Trump in the election.

Close Results and Growing Unrest

With 98.77% of votes counted, Asfura had 40.53% of the vote, ahead of Nasralla with 39.16% and Moncada with just under twenty percent, according to the election body's update.

Patience has worn thin over the last week as the counting was repeatedly halted, sometimes for days on end.

Representatives of the CNE attributed the delays to "system glitches."

They have also warned that numerous voting records with "discrepancies" still need to be reviewed.

Trump's Endorsement and Controversial Pardon

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

Shortly before the vote, Trump backed the former mayor of Tegucigalpa, saying that "Tito and I 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 poor choice can only bring disastrous outcomes," Trump added.

In a unexpected action two days before the election, Trump also pardoned jailed former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who is from the same party as Asfura.

Hernández was serving a 45-year prison sentence in the US for trafficking cocaine.

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

Mounting Tensions and Claims of Meddling

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

Trump claimed the CNE of "trying to change" the outcome when Nasralla pulled past Asfura early on.

"They will face severe consequences," the US president said without providing evidence of any fraud.

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

Rixi Moncada's Libre party called for the "the total annulment" of the elections.

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

Nasralla blamed unnamed "bad actors" for "delaying the counting process."

Under Honduran law, the CNE has until 30 December to declare a winner.