Former US President-Endorsed Candidate Asfura Declared New President of the Central American Nation
Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the winner of Honduras’s race for the presidency following a vote count that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was overshadowed by fraud allegations and criticism of meddling from the US president.
The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 ballots.
The election authority declared a victor before completing the examination of all tally sheets under a “special scrutiny” launched 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 proclaimed himself as president-elect. “The nation, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [electoral council]. I acknowledge the tremendous effort carried out by the councillors and the whole staff that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am prepared to lead. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he stated.
Nasralla refused to concede and published a series of statements alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, claiming that “the data from the original tally sheets were altered”.
The electoral council is made up of three members: 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 win was announced only by the first two councillors.
The member associated with the president’s party rejected the outcome, alleged that an “stolen election” was under way and filed a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office, opening the possibility 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 sovereignly at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term starting 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”
The declaration before the end of the recount was the latest in a series of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as open interference by the US president.
Days before the vote, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he won, and criticized the other main contenders, calling them socialists or associates of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.
On the eve of the election, the US president also announced a pardon for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura supporter 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 a public platform. “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 government to promote prosperity and safety in our region.”
