Trump-Backed Contender Asfura Declared Incoming Head of State of Honduras
Former President Trump-endorsed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the victor of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that extended for almost a month and was marred by fraud allegations and criticism of interference by the American leader.
The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate 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 votes.
The electoral council declared a victor before completing the review of all tally sheets under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to re-tally votes flagged as “irregular”. The decision was criticised by defeated candidates and deplored by the OAS, which sent an observation mission to the election held on 30 November.
Asfura has already declared himself the elected president. “Honduras, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [electoral council]. I recognise the great work carried out by the councillors and the entire team that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he stated.
Nasralla refused to concede 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 changed”.
The electoral council is made up of three members: one aligned 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 announced only by the first two councillors.
The member linked to the president’s party refused to recognise the result, alleged that an “stolen election” was under way and lodged a legal challenge with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the result will be contested in the judiciary.
In its statement, the council declared: “By the sovereign choice of the people of Honduras, 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 concluding on 27 January 2030.”
The proclamation before the end 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 open interference by the American head of state.
Days before the election, Trump publicly backed Asfura, stated the US would back the next government only if he won, and attacked the other leading candidates, calling them socialists or associates of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.
On the night of the election, the American leader also granted clemency for the former Honduran president and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for reportedly creating “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on social media. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” stated Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to president-elect Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his government to advance prosperity and safety in our hemisphere.”
