Trump-Backed Contender Asfura Declared Incoming President of Honduras
Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the winner of Honduras’s race for the presidency after a ballot tally that extended for nearly four weeks and was overshadowed by fraud allegations and accusations of meddling from the US president.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and former 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 electoral council declared a victor prior to finishing the examination of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to recount votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The decision was decried by defeated candidates and deplored by the Organization of American States, which sent an monitoring team to the poll held on 30 November.
Asfura has proclaimed himself as the elected president. “The nation, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [electoral council]. I acknowledge the great work carried out by the councillors and the whole staff that administered the election. Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.
Nasralla refused to concede and published a number of messages alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, claiming that “the data from the original tally sheets were altered”.
The election board is made up of three members: one aligned with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the leftist president, Xiomara Castro, whose nominee came in third place. Asfura’s victory was declared only by the first two councillors.
The representative associated with the president’s party refused to recognise the result, claimed that an “stolen election” was taking place and lodged a complaint with the attorney general, opening the possibility that the result will be challenged in the judiciary.
In its announcement, the council declared: “By the sovereign choice 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 presidential term beginning on 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”
The proclamation before the end of the recount 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 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 leading candidates, calling them communists or associates of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.
On the night of the election, the American leader also granted clemency for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for reportedly establishing “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.
The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on a public platform. “The people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” stated Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to the elected president Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his administration to promote economic growth and security in our region.”
