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The centrist candidate in Honduras's tightly contested presidential election, Salvador Nasralla, has accused "corrupt people" of tampering with the vote count in the country.

Nine days after the election, the election authority has still not declared a winner, but the latest results suggest that Nasry "Tito" Asfura, the right-wing contender endorsed by US President Donald Trump, holds a slim advantage.

Nasralla, who had been leading earlier on before dropping into second place, declared on social media: "This is a robbery."

The progressive hopeful placed in third, Rixi Moncada, has called for the vote to be invalidated and accused Trump of the election.

Narrow Results and Growing Unrest

With the vast majority of votes counted, Asfura had just over forty percent of the vote, leading Nasralla with 39.16% and Moncada with just under twenty percent, according to the National Electoral Council's (CNE) update.

Frustration has been growing over the last week as the counting stalled several times, sometimes for days on end.

Officials from the CNE blamed "system glitches."

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

Trump's Backing and Surprise Pardon

The run-up to the election was overshadowed by Trump's endorsement of Nasry "Tito" Asfura.

Just days before the vote, Trump backed the former mayor of Tegucigalpa, stating that "We can work together to fight the drug traffickers."

"We will be very supportive should Asfura win, but we will not be wasting resources, because a poor choice can only bring catastrophic results," Trump added.

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

Hernández was in the midst of a 45-year prison sentence in the US for conspiring to import cocaine.

His clemency and freedom has shocked Honduran authorities, who issued an international arrest warrant for Hernández, who is still in the US.

Mounting Tensions and Claims of Interference

Meanwhile, the situation has grown more tense as the lead in the vote count changed a number of times.

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

"If they do, there will be hell to pay," 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 alleging misconduct.

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

It also called on its supporters to protest publicly against what it called "meddling and pressure of the President of the United States."

Nasralla blamed unnamed "corrupt ones" for "holding up the counting process."

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