An ally of US President Donald Trump looked set to win elections in Honduras, polls marked by extensive interference by both Washington and Beijing.
Nasry Asfura, a conservative former mayor of the Honduran capital, led exit polls. Trump has threatened to withdraw funding to Honduras if Asfura doesn’t win, and has vowed to pardon former President Juan Orlando Hernandez, a member of Asfura’s party who is serving a 45-year drug trafficking sentence in the US.
China, too, sought to influence the outcome: Asfura has pledged to diplomatically recognize Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province. “I’ve never seen China as involved in a Latin American election as they are in Honduras,” a leading Latin America analyst said.