Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Declared Incoming President of Honduras
Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the winner of Honduras’s presidential election following a vote count that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was marred by claims of irregularities and criticism of meddling from the American leader.
The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes.
The election authority declared a victor prior to finishing the examination of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to re-tally votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The move was criticised by unsuccessful contenders and deplored by the OAS, which sent an monitoring team to the election held on 30 November.
Asfura has already declared himself the elected president. “The nation, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [electoral council]. I acknowledge the tremendous effort carried out by the members and the entire team that administered the election. Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he stated.
Nasralla declined to accept defeat and posted a number of messages alleging fraud in the counting process, including “tampering with official records”, claiming that “the data from the original tally sheets were altered”.
The election board is composed of three councillors: one aligned 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 representative linked to the president’s party refused to recognise the outcome, alleged that an “electoral coup” was taking place and lodged a complaint with the attorney general, opening the possibility that the outcome will be contested in court.
In its statement, the council said: “By the majority will of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the polls, the full council of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term beginning on 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”
The proclamation before the end of the review was the latest in a series of controversies that marked the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as open interference by the US president.
Shortly prior to the election, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he won, and criticized the other leading candidates, labeling them communists or allies 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 supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for allegedly establishing “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on a public platform. “The people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and anticipates collaborating with his government to advance economic growth and safety in our hemisphere.”