Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Proclaimed Incoming President of Honduras
Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the winner of Honduras’s race for the presidency following a vote count that extended for nearly four weeks and was overshadowed by claims of irregularities and accusations of interference by the American leader.
The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and ex-mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes.
The electoral council declared a victor before completing the examination of all vote records under a “special scrutiny” launched last week to re-tally votes flagged as “irregular”. The decision was decried by unsuccessful contenders and lamented by the OAS, which deployed an monitoring team to the election held on 30 November.
Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “The nation, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [electoral council]. I acknowledge the great work carried out by the councillors and the whole staff 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 posted a series of statements alleging fraud in the counting process, including “forgery of public documents”, claiming that “the figures from the initial count sheets were changed”.
The electoral council 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 nominee came in third place. Asfura’s win was announced only by the first two councillors.
The member associated with the president’s party rejected the result, alleged that an “stolen election” was under way and filed a complaint with the attorney general, opening the possibility that the result will be contested in the judiciary.
In its announcement, the council said: “By the majority will of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the polls, 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 concluding on 27 January 2030.”
The declaration prior to the conclusion of the recount was the most recent in a string of disputes that characterized the Central American country’s election campaign, starting with what many saw as open interference by the US president.
Days before the election, Trump publicly backed Asfura, said the US would back the next government only if he won, and attacked the other main contenders, 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 ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for reportedly establishing “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.
The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on social media. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to president-elect Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his government to advance prosperity and safety in our region.”
