Honduras' former President Juan Orlando Hernández has thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for pardoning him in his first message after leaving prison.

With votes from about 57% of polling places counted in Honduras, preliminary and partial results showed conservative candidates Nasry Asfura and Salvador Nasralla leading the presidential contest early Monday and the governing party trailing.

Poll workers have begun tallying Hondurans’ votes as the country moves to elect a new president only days after U.S. President Donald Trump intervened in a close race with an endorsement of one candidate and announced he would pardon a former president.

Hondurans are buzzing about U.S. President Donald Trump's recent involvement in their presidential election.

Honduras’ homicide and unemployment rates have both improved during the past four years under outgoing President Xiomara Castro.

Voters in Honduras will select candidates from the three main parties to compete in November’s general election for the presidency.

The arrest of former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández and the images of a leader shackled and paraded before cameras like a common criminal are a stunning reversal for a man who for years seemed impervious to growing allegations of corruption.

The United States has formally requested the arrest and extradition of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández on drug and weapons charges less than three weeks after he left office.

Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, the wife of ousted former president Mel Zelaya, has taken a commanding lead in Honduras' elections, capping a 12-year effort.

Leftist opposition candidate Xiomara Castro is holding a commanding lead as Hondurans appear poised to remove the conservative National Party after 12 years of continuous rule.

For many Hondurans, Sunday’s election will be about removing a party whose successive administrations are widely seen as deepening the country’s corruption over the past 12 years, driving tens of thousands to flee the country.