President-elect Juan Orlando Hernández of Honduras. AP Yonhap News 

The U.S. Trump administration is moving to "strengthen" the right-wing president-elect of Honduras, whose victory was confirmed after nearly a month of vote counting.

According to a U.S. Department of State press release on December 26 (local time), Secretary of State Mike Pompeo congratulated President-elect Juan Orlando Hernández of Honduras on his "clear electoral victory" in a phone call.

The State Department stated that Secretary Pompeo also highly valued President-elect Hernández's endorsement of U.S. strategic goals, such as promoting bilateral and regional security cooperation and strengthening economic relations between the two countries.

The State Department also indicated that both leaders expressed readiness to deepen cooperation and strengthen the partnership between the United States and Honduras.

The Honduran presidential election, which saw a close race between the top two candidates, concluded on December 24 with Hernández confirmed as the president-elect (40.3% of the vote) after overcoming setbacks including technical difficulties in the vote count following the November 30 ballot, allegations of electoral fraud, and intense protests surrounding them.

U.S. President Donald Trump had publicly expressed his support for Hernández on October 26, prior to the Honduran presidential election, stating, "I hope the people of Honduras elect Hernández as president."

Salvador Nasralla, who lost with 39.5% of the vote, continued to post on X (formerly Twitter) raising suspicions of electoral fraud and demanding a full recount even after the National Electoral Council announced the final election results.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. AFP Yonhap News