Former US President-Endorsed Candidate Asfura Declared Incoming President of Honduras
Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the victor of Honduras’s presidential election following a ballot tally that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was marred by claims of irregularities and criticism of meddling from the American leader.
The rightwing 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 moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 ballots.
The election authority proclaimed a winner prior to finishing the examination of all vote records under a “special scrutiny” initiated last week to recount votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The decision was decried by defeated candidates and lamented by the Organization of American States, which sent an observation mission to the election held on 30 November.
Asfura has proclaimed himself as president-elect. “Honduras, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [electoral council]. I recognise the great work undertaken by the councillors 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 declined to accept defeat and published a series of statements claiming manipulation in the counting process, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the data from the initial count 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 progressive president, Xiomara Castro, whose nominee finished third. Asfura’s win was declared only by the initial pair of councillors.
The member associated with the president’s party rejected the result, claimed that an “electoral coup” was taking place and lodged a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the result will be challenged in the judiciary.
In its announcement, the council said: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, expressed freely at the polls, the full council 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 declaration before the end of the review was the most recent in a series of disputes that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state.
Shortly prior to the vote, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he won, and attacked the other main contenders, labeling them socialists or allies of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.
On the eve of the election, the US president also granted clemency for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “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 made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and anticipates working with his government to promote prosperity and security in our hemisphere.”
