OFFICIALS of a Honduras Congress panel threatened on Wednesday that it would refuse to validate the result of a November 30 presidential election.

As the vote counting stretched into its 11th day, the panel said there had been an “electoral coup” and direct interference by United States President Donald Trump.

With almost all ballots counted, far right National Party candidate Nasry Asfura was allegedly 40,000 votes ahead of Salvador Nasralla, who claims to have won the election, with Libre candidate Rixi Moncada in third place.

In a statement, the National Electoral Council said: “We denounce the existence of an ongoing electoral coup.”

The panel said it “absolutely condemns” the interference of President Trump.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the capital Tegucigalpa on Wednesday to demand a rerun.

President Xiomara Castro said she would be complaining about US interference to the United Nations and other international bodies.

But as votes were being counted, President Trump said there would be “hell to pay” if Mr Asfura was not announced as the winner of the election.

On the eve of the poll, President Trump announced a pardon for former president Juan Orlando Hernandez, of Mr Asfura’s National Party, who was released from a 45-year jail term in the US for drug trafficking and weapons charges.