Trump-Backed Candidate Asfura Proclaimed Incoming President of Honduras
Former President Trump-endorsed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the winner of Honduras’s race for the presidency following a ballot tally that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was clouded by claims of irregularities and accusations of meddling from the US president.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and ex-mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 ballots.
The electoral council declared a victor before completing the examination of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to re-tally votes marked as “inconsistent”. The decision was decried by unsuccessful contenders and deplored by the Organization of American States, which deployed an observation mission to the election held on 30 November.
Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “The nation, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge the tremendous effort undertaken by the members and the whole staff that ran 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 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 finished third. Asfura’s victory was declared only by the initial pair of councillors.
The member associated with the president’s party rejected the outcome, claimed that an “stolen election” was taking place and lodged a complaint with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the outcome will be challenged in the judiciary.
In its statement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, expressed freely at the polls, the plenary session of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate 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 controversies that characterized the Central American country’s election campaign, starting with what many saw as open interference by the US president.
Days before the election, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and criticized the other leading candidates, labeling them socialists or associates of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.
On the eve of the election, the US president also granted clemency for the former Honduran president and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for reportedly establishing “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on social media. “The people of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and looks forward to working with his government to advance economic growth and security in our region.”
