US president favours Nasry ‘Tito’ Asfura of rightwing National party, as polls show three candidates are neck-and-neck

Polls opened at 7.00 am (1300 GMT) for 10 hours of voting, with the first results expected on Sunday.

Trump has conditioned continued US support for one of Latin America’s poorest countries on Asfura winning. “If he [Asfura] doesn’t win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad,” he wrote on Friday on his Truth Social platform, echoing threats he made in support of the Argentine president Javier Milei’s party in that country’s recent midterms.