Donald Trump’s favored candidate, Nasry Asfura, lost his lead in Honduras’ ongoing presidential vote count, falling behind a rival the U.S. leader attacked as a “borderline communist.”

Salvador Nasralla, the focus of Trump’s ire, had 40.1% in an update published Tuesday afternoon, while Asfura had 39.7%. With about 67% of the ballots tallied, fewer than 9,000 votes separate the two candidates.

The electoral authority had suspended the quick count on Monday, declaring it a technical tie, and said it was starting a vote-by-vote tally. On Tuesday, the authority said in a statement that it had suffered technical problems, and began updating the results page again.

Rixi Moncada, the candidate from the leftist ruling party, was in third place with 19.1%. She said Monday that she would challenge the result, and demanded a count of all the ballot sheets.

Trump said he would refuse to work with either Nasralla or Moncada. On Monday, he warned Honduras against any actions to “change the results of their Presidential Election.”

“If they do, there will be hell to pay!” he added.

Trump stunned Hondurans two days before the vote with his intervention in favor of Asfura, as well as with his decision to pardon Juan Orlando Hernández, a former Honduran president sentenced to 45 years in U.S. prison for cocaine trafficking and weapons offenses. Hernández belonged to Asfura’s National Party of Honduras.

The electoral authority has until Dec. 30 to declare a winner. The next president will take office on Jan. 27.

Both the leading candidates have pledged to cut Honduras’ diplomatic ties with China and go back to recognizing Taiwan.

The current president, Xiomara Castro, established relations with Beijing in 2023, but Asfura and Nasralla say that the trade relationship with China is unfair and has cost jobs.

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(With assistance from Michael McDonald.)

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