Former US President-Endorsed Candidate Asfura Proclaimed Incoming Head of State of Honduras
Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the winner of Honduras’s presidential election following a ballot tally that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was clouded by claims of irregularities and criticism of meddling from the American leader.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 votes.
The electoral council proclaimed a winner prior to finishing the examination of all vote records under a “special scrutiny” initiated last week to re-tally votes marked as “inconsistent”. The decision was criticised by unsuccessful contenders and lamented by the Organization of American States, which deployed an monitoring team to the election 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 undertaken by the members and the entire team 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 posted a number of messages alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the figures from the initial count sheets were changed”.
The electoral council is made up 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 nominee finished third. Asfura’s win was declared only by the initial pair of councillors.
The member linked to the president’s party refused to recognise the outcome, claimed that an “stolen election” was under way and filed a legal challenge with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the outcome will be contested in the judiciary.
In its announcement, the council declared: “By the sovereign choice of the people of Honduras, expressed freely at the ballot box, the plenary session of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate president of the Republic of Honduras for the four-year term starting 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”
The declaration before the end of the recount was the most recent in a series of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as open interference by the US president.
Shortly prior to the vote, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated the US would back the next government only if he won, and criticized the other leading candidates, labeling them socialists or allies of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.
On the eve of the election, the American leader also announced a pardon for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura ally 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, offered congratulations to Asfura on a public platform. “The citizens of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to president-elect Asfura and looks forward to working with his government to advance prosperity and security in our hemisphere.”
