Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Dec 7, 2017 / 00:09 am
A contested national election in Honduras has enflamed a civil crisis, leading Pope Francis to pray on Sunday for Hondurans to "peacefully overcome the current difficult moment."
Juan Orlando Hernández, the incumbent president, faced opposition candidate Salvador Nasralla in the Nov. 26 presidential election.
Early returns from the election, with nearly 58 percent of votes counted, showed a five-point lead for Nasralla, a popular television star. The count slowed and his lead disappeared, amid claims from Nasralla supporters that the election was being stolen by Hernandez, the British newspaper The Guardian reports.
Nasralla has claimed victory, saying, "I am the president-elect of Honduras, the president chosen by the people."