Trump-Backed Contender Asfura Proclaimed Incoming President of the Central American Nation
Former President Trump-endorsed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the victor of Honduras’s presidential election following a ballot tally that extended for nearly four weeks and was overshadowed by fraud allegations and accusations of interference by the US president.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 ballots.
The election authority proclaimed a winner before completing the review of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to recount votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The decision was decried by defeated candidates and lamented by the Organization of American States, which sent an monitoring team to the poll held on 30 November.
Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “The nation, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge the tremendous effort carried out by the members and the entire team that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am prepared to lead. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he stated.
Nasralla refused to concede and posted a number of messages claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the figures from the initial count sheets were changed”.
The election board is made up of three councillors: one affiliated with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the progressive president, Xiomara Castro, whose nominee came in third place. Asfura’s win was declared only by the initial pair of councillors.
The member linked to the president’s party refused to recognise the result, alleged that an “stolen election” was under way and filed a complaint with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the outcome will be challenged in the judiciary.
In its statement, the council said: “By the sovereign choice of the Honduran people, expressed sovereignly at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term beginning on 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”
The proclamation prior to the conclusion of the review was the most recent in a series of disputes that characterized the Central American country’s election campaign, starting with what many saw as blatant meddling by the US president.
Days before the vote, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated the US would back the next government only if he was victorious, and attacked the other main contenders, calling them communists or associates of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.
On the eve of the election, the US president also announced a pardon for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for allegedly establishing “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on social media. “The citizens of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to president-elect Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his government to promote prosperity and security in our region.”
