Trump-Backed Contender Asfura Proclaimed Incoming President of Honduras
Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a ballot tally that extended for almost a month and was overshadowed by fraud allegations and criticism of interference by the US president.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, obtained 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 review of all tally sheets under a “special scrutiny” initiated last week to re-tally votes flagged as “irregular”. The decision was criticised by defeated candidates and deplored by the Organization of American States, which sent an monitoring team to the election held on 30 November.
Asfura has proclaimed himself as president-elect. “Honduras, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge the tremendous effort carried out by the members and the entire team that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am ready to govern. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.
Nasralla refused to concede and published a series of statements alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, asserting that “the figures from the original tally sheets were changed”.
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 progressive president, Xiomara Castro, whose candidate finished third. Asfura’s win was declared only by the initial pair of councillors.
The member associated with the president’s party refused to recognise the outcome, claimed that an “electoral coup” was taking place and filed a legal challenge with the attorney general, opening the possibility that the result will be challenged in the judiciary.
In its statement, the council said: “By the sovereign choice of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the ballot box, the plenary session 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 proclamation prior to the conclusion of the recount was the most recent in a series of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as open interference by the US president.
Days before the election, Trump publicly backed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he won, and criticized the other main contenders, calling them socialists or allies of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.
On the night of the election, the US president also granted clemency for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for allegedly establishing “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on social media. “The people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” stated Rubio. “The United States congratulates president-elect Asfura and anticipates collaborating with his administration to advance economic growth and safety in our hemisphere.”
