Former US President-Endorsed Candidate Asfura Proclaimed Incoming President of Honduras
Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the victor of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that extended for almost a month and was clouded by fraud allegations and accusations of meddling from the American leader.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 ballots.
The election authority proclaimed a winner before completing the examination of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to recount votes flagged as “irregular”. The move was criticised by defeated candidates and deplored by the Organization of American States, which sent an observation mission to the election held on 30 November.
Asfura has proclaimed himself as president-elect. “The nation, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [electoral council]. I recognise the tremendous effort carried out by the members and the whole staff that administered the election. Honduras: I am prepared to lead. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.
Nasralla refused to concede and published a number of messages claiming manipulation in the counting process, including “tampering with official records”, asserting that “the figures from the original tally sheets were changed”.
The electoral council is composed of three councillors: one affiliated with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the leftist president, Xiomara Castro, whose candidate came in third place. Asfura’s victory was declared only by the first two councillors.
The member associated with the president’s party refused to recognise the outcome, claimed that an “stolen election” was taking place and filed a legal challenge with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the outcome will be contested in court.
In its statement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the four-year term beginning on 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”
The proclamation prior to the conclusion of the review was the most recent in a string of disputes that marked the Central American country’s election campaign, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state.
Days before the election, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and attacked the other main contenders, calling them socialists or allies 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 ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for allegedly establishing “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.
The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on a public platform. “The citizens of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” stated Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to president-elect Asfura and looks forward to working with his administration to advance economic growth and safety in our region.”
