Former US President-Endorsed Candidate Asfura Proclaimed Incoming President of Honduras
Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the victor of Honduras’s presidential election after a ballot tally that extended for almost a month and was clouded by fraud allegations and criticism of meddling from the American leader.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and ex-mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 ballots.
The election authority declared a victor before completing the review of all tally sheets under a “special scrutiny” initiated last week to recount votes flagged as “irregular”. The decision was decried by defeated candidates and lamented by the Organization of American States, which sent an monitoring team to the poll held on 30 November.
Asfura has proclaimed himself as the elected president. “The nation, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I recognise the tremendous effort carried out by the members and the entire team that administered the election. My fellow citizens: I am prepared to lead. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.
Nasralla refused to concede and published a series of statements alleging fraud in the counting process, including “tampering with official records”, asserting that “the data from the original tally sheets were changed”.
The election board is composed of three councillors: one affiliated 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 victory was declared only by the initial pair of councillors.
The representative linked to the president’s party rejected the result, claimed that an “electoral coup” was taking place and filed a complaint with the attorney general, opening the possibility that the outcome will be contested in the judiciary.
In its announcement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, expressed sovereignly 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 ending on 27 January 2030.”
The proclamation before the end of the recount was the latest in a string of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state.
Days before the election, Trump publicly backed Asfura, stated the US would back the next government only if he won, and attacked the other main contenders, calling them socialists or allies of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.
On the eve of the election, the US president also granted clemency for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.
The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on social media. “The citizens of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” stated Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to the elected president Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his administration to advance economic growth and safety in our hemisphere.”
