Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Declared Incoming President of the Central American Nation
Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the winner of Honduras’s presidential election following a ballot tally that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was clouded by claims of irregularities and accusations of interference by the American leader.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and ex-mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 ballots.
The election authority proclaimed a winner before completing the examination of all vote records under a “special scrutiny” initiated last week to re-tally votes marked as “inconsistent”. The move was criticised by defeated candidates and lamented by the OAS, which deployed an monitoring team to the poll held on 30 November.
Asfura has proclaimed himself as the elected president. “Honduras, we now have the official declaration 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 fail you. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.
Nasralla refused to concede and posted a number of messages alleging fraud in the counting process, including “tampering with official records”, claiming that “the figures from the original tally sheets were changed”.
The election board is made up of three members: one affiliated with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the leftist president, Xiomara Castro, whose candidate finished third. Asfura’s win was announced only by the first two councillors.
The member linked to the president’s party rejected the result, claimed that an “electoral coup” was taking place and lodged a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office, opening the possibility that the outcome will be contested in court.
In its announcement, the council said: “By the majority will of the Honduran people, expressed sovereignly at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term starting 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”
The declaration prior to the conclusion of the recount was the most recent in a string of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as open interference by the American head of state.
Shortly prior to the election, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he won, and criticized the other leading candidates, labeling them communists or allies of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.
On the night 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 sentenced 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 a public platform. “The people of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” stated Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to the elected president Asfura and anticipates working with his government to promote economic growth and safety in our hemisphere.”