A conservative candidate backed by US President Donald Trump and nicknamed "grandad" led Sunday's presidential election in Honduras, according to snap results from the electoral commission.

Election officials said that with just under half the votes counted, 67-year-old Nasry Asfura had a small lead over Salvador Nasralla, another right-wing candidate.

Both were well ahead of the ruling leftist party candidate, signalling another Latin American nation is poised to swing rightward.

The campaign was dominated by Trump's threat to cut aid if his favoured candidate Asfura were to lose.

Trump threw his weight behind the former Tegucigalpa mayor -- whose campaign slogan was "Grandad, at your service!" -- in the final days of the race.

That intervention upended a contest that is still too cl

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