Honduras remained on edge Tuesday after the National Electoral Council declared a "technical tie" in Sunday's presidential election, with Trump-endorsed National Party candidate Nasry Asfura holding a razor-thin lead of just 515 votes over centrist rival Salvador Nasralla.
The partial digital tally of 57 percent of ballots showed the 67-year-old former Tegucigalpa mayor barely ahead of the 72-year-old television host, prompting electoral authorities to initiate a manual recount.
CNE president Ana Paola Hall urged calm and patience as the slow process got underway, warning that final results could take days in the polarized Central American nation.
President Trump reacted furiously on Truth Social, claiming Honduran officials had "abruptly stopped counting" votes when Asfura held a slight edge and were now "trying to change the results."
"If they do, there will be hell to pay!" he wrote, insisting the count must continue and that hundreds of thousands of Honduran votes be respected.
The U.S. leader, who days before the election threatened to cut aid if Asfura lost and announced plans to pardon convicted former president Juan Orlando Hernández, has made similar warnings to several Latin American countries.
The election delivered a clear setback to Honduras' governing left-leaning Libre party, whose candidate Rixi Moncada trailed far behind with around 19 percent of the vote.
A victory for either frontrunner would mark a shift to the right or center in a country that has oscillated between ideological blocs and recently strengthened ties with China under the current administration.
Preemptive fraud accusations from multiple sides have raised fears of unrest, while issues with the results website further slowed transparency in one of Latin America's poorest and most violent nations.