Former US President-Endorsed Candidate Asfura Proclaimed New Head of State of the Central American Nation
Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the victor of Honduras’s presidential election following a vote count that dragged on for almost a month and was overshadowed by fraud allegations and criticism of meddling from the American leader.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes.
The election authority declared a victor before completing the examination of all vote records under a “special scrutiny” launched last week to recount votes marked as “inconsistent”. The decision was decried by unsuccessful contenders and lamented by the OAS, which sent 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 councillors and the whole staff that ran the election. Honduras: I am prepared to lead. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he stated.
Nasralla declined to accept defeat and published a series of statements alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the figures from the initial count sheets were altered”.
The election board is made up of three councillors: one affiliated 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 initial pair of councillors.
The representative associated with the president’s party rejected the outcome, claimed that an “stolen election” was taking place and filed a legal challenge with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the result will be contested in court.
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 constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the four-year term beginning on 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”
The declaration prior to the conclusion of the review was the most recent in a string of controversies that marked the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as open interference by the American head of state.
Shortly prior to the election, Trump publicly backed Asfura, said the US would back the next government only if he won, and criticized the other main contenders, labeling them socialists or allies of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.
On the night of the election, the US president also announced a pardon for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on social media. “The citizens of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates president-elect Asfura and anticipates working with his administration to advance prosperity and safety in our region.”
