Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Proclaimed Incoming Head of State of Honduras
Former President Trump-endorsed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the winner of Honduras’s presidential election following a ballot tally that extended for nearly four weeks and was clouded by claims of irregularities and accusations 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, against 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes.
The electoral council proclaimed a winner prior to finishing the review of all tally sheets under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to re-tally votes marked as “inconsistent”. The move was criticised by defeated candidates and deplored by the OAS, which deployed an monitoring team to the election held on 30 November.
Asfura has already declared himself the elected president. “Honduras, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge the tremendous effort undertaken by the members and the entire team that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am prepared to lead. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he stated.
Nasralla declined to accept defeat and posted a series of statements claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, asserting that “the data from the initial count sheets were changed”.
The election board is made up of three members: one affiliated with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the progressive president, Xiomara Castro, whose nominee came in third place. Asfura’s win was declared only by the first two councillors.
The member linked to the president’s party refused to recognise the outcome, claimed that an “stolen election” was taking place and filed a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the outcome will be challenged in the judiciary.
In its announcement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, expressed sovereignly at the ballot box, 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 concluding on 27 January 2030.”
The declaration before the end of the review was the latest in a series of disputes 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 publicly backed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and criticized the other main contenders, calling them communists or associates 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 given 45 years in prison for reportedly establishing “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on social media. “The people 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 anticipates working with his government to promote economic growth and safety in our hemisphere.”
