The armed forces of the Central American country have intervened in politics in the past and carried out several coups d'etat, most recently in 2009 when they ousted then-president Manuel Zelaya -- husband of incumbent leftist leader Xiomara Castro.

"We have been clear," armed forces chief Roosevelt Hernandez insisted Wednesday. "We have said we will support and recognize the results" that emerge from the count underway by the CNE electoral council, with two right-wing candidates neck-and-neck.

Hernandez, who is close to the outgoing government, told Televicentro the military would "ensure...the transfer of the presidency of the republic."

Businessman Nasry Asfura, backed by US President Donald Trump, has a razor-thin lead in the count over TV personality Salvador Nasralla.

Suspicions of fraud have been fueled by successive computer failures that have stalled tallying, which the CNE legally has a month to complete.

A review of apparent "inconsistencies" in some 2,700 tally sheets will start Thursday at the counting center in Tegucigalpa, which has been under police and military guard since protesters started gathering earlier this week to press for a fair tally.

Nasralla has claimed fraud in the process, backed by outgoing Castro and the trailing leftist candidate Rixi Moncada, who has called for an election annulment.

- 'Growing climate of tension' -

Human Rights Watch Americas director Juanita Goebertus said Wednesday on X that "given the growing climate of tension, it is essential to guarantee the security of electoral personnel (and) the integrity of voting materials."

The rights group urged "all actors to refrain from exerting pressure that puts the democratic process at risk."

Trump himself has come under fire over his backing for Asfura and his threat that if his chosen candidate doesn't win, "the United States will not be throwing good money after bad."

Last week, the US leader also issued a surprise pardon for former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez of Asfura's National Party.

Hernandez was serving a 45-year prison sentence in the United States, where a jury found him guilty of belonging to one of "the largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies in the world."

In what many saw as an attempt at political interference, Hernandez was released despite Trump's stated commitment to eradicating Latin American drug trafficking.