Trump-Backed Contender Asfura Declared New Head of State of the Central American Nation
Former President Trump-endorsed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the winner of Honduras’s presidential election following a ballot tally that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was marred by fraud allegations and accusations of interference by the American leader.
The conservative 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 votes.
The election authority proclaimed a winner before completing the review of all tally sheets under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to recount votes marked as “inconsistent”. The decision was decried by unsuccessful contenders 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. “Honduras, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [electoral council]. I acknowledge the tremendous effort 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 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 initial count sheets were altered”.
The electoral council is composed 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 win was announced only by the first two councillors.
The representative linked to the president’s party refused to recognise the result, claimed that an “stolen election” was taking place and lodged a legal challenge with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the outcome will be contested in the judiciary.
In its announcement, the council said: “By the sovereign choice of the Honduran people, expressed sovereignly at the polls, the plenary session of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the four-year term starting 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”
The proclamation before the end of the review was the latest in a string of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s election campaign, starting with what many saw as open interference by the American head of state.
Shortly prior to the election, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and criticized 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 ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 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 people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” stated Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to president-elect Asfura and anticipates collaborating with his government to advance prosperity and safety in our region.”
