Washington DC - Donald Trump on Monday accused election officials in Honduras with no proof of "trying to change" their presidential election outcome, as a partial digital tally revealed the two frontrunners are locked in a "technical tie."

The National Electoral Council (CNE) has called for "patience" as it starts a manual count of the November 30 vote, in one of Latin America's most impoverished countries.

The Trump-backed candidate, Nasry Asfura, led rival Salvador Nasralla by just 515 votes, making it a "technical tie," CNE head Ana Paola Hall said on social media, although the race is too close to call after a preliminary count.

"Looks like Honduras is trying to change the results of their Presidential Election. If they do, there will be hell to pay!" Trump claimed on social media, without providing any evidence for his accusation.

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The president has blatantly interfered in multiple elections in the region, previously threatening to cut aid to Argentina and Honduras if his picks did not win.

Ally Javier Milei was victorious in Argentina's mid-term elections.

Nasralla told reporters on Monday that despite Trump's efforts to put his thumb on the scales, he was confident the election would swing in his favor.

"I know I've already won. This morning, they sent me a figure that puts me ahead," he told reporters about the preliminary count.

Nasralla clarified in a post on X that "we are not declaring ourselves winners, we are just projecting the results."

The election campaign was dominated by Trump's threat and the surprise announcement that he would pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez of Asfura's National Party.

Hernandez is serving a 45-year prison sentence in the US, where he had been accused of belonging to one of "the largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies in the world."

Many Hondurans have fled north to escape grinding poverty and violence, including minors fearing forced recruitment by gangs.

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This escape route has become more difficult since Trump's assault on immigrants, and nearly 30,000 Honduran migrants have been deported since his second term started in January.

The clampdown has dealt a severe blow to the country of 11 million people, where remittances accounted for 27% of GDP last year.

Preemptive accusations of election fraud from the ruling party and opposition have sparked fears of unrest.

The vote count has progressed slowly, and final results could take days.

Lawmakers and hundreds of mayors were also elected in the fiercely polarized nation, which has swung back and forth between nominally leftist and conservative leaders.

Long a transit point for cocaine exported from Colombia to the US, Honduras is now also a drug producer, yet the candidates barely addressed drug trafficking, poverty, or violence on the campaign trail.