Trump-Backed Contender Asfura Declared Incoming President of Honduras
Former President Trump-endorsed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was overshadowed by fraud allegations and accusations of meddling from the US president.
The conservative Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and ex-mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes.
The election authority declared a victor prior to finishing the review of all tally sheets under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to recount votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The decision was decried by unsuccessful contenders and deplored by the OAS, which sent an monitoring team to the election held on 30 November.
Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “Honduras, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [electoral council]. I recognise the great work carried out by the councillors and the whole staff that administered the election. My fellow citizens: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.
Nasralla declined to accept defeat and posted a series of statements claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, claiming that “the figures from the original tally sheets were altered”.
The election board is composed 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 nominee finished third. Asfura’s win was declared only by the first two councillors.
The representative associated with the president’s party rejected the outcome, claimed that an “electoral coup” was taking place and lodged a complaint with the attorney general, opening the possibility that the result will be contested in the judiciary.
In its announcement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the Honduran people, expressed sovereignly at the polls, the full council of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term starting 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”
The proclamation before the end of the review was the latest in a string of disputes that marked the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state.
Shortly prior to the vote, Trump publicly backed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he won, and attacked the other main contenders, calling them communists or allies of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.
On the eve of the election, the American leader also granted clemency for the former Honduran president 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 American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on a public platform. “The citizens of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates president-elect Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his government to advance economic growth and security in our region.”
