In their first update on the vote, the electoral council said that the conservative candidate was just ahead of former TV host and vice president Salvador Nasralla, with a little over a third of the ballots counted.
Asfura has been backed by US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to cut financial aid to the Central American nation if his preferred candidate does not win.
Stressing that the results were both “preliminary and partial”, the head of the agency said that the race was on a knife-edge between the two conservative candidates.
Asfura is fractionally in the lead with 40.5% of the vote, while his nearest challenger, Nasralla, is on 39%.
In third place is the ruling left-wing Libre party candidate, Rixi Moncada, at about 20%.
There are five presidential candidates, but the poll is essentially being seen as a three-way race.
There are still a lot of ballots left to be counted, and the lead could easily change hands as the votes come in, especially from the more remote communities.
However, so far it has been an encouraging night for Asfura’s supporters – both in Honduras, and in Washington.
