Trump-Backed Contender Asfura Declared Incoming Head of State of Honduras
Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the winner of Honduras’s presidential election following a vote count that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was clouded by claims of irregularities and accusations of meddling from the US president.
The conservative Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and ex-mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 ballots.
The electoral council declared a victor before completing the examination of all tally sheets under a “special scrutiny” initiated last week to re-tally votes marked as “irregular”. The decision was criticised by defeated candidates and lamented by the Organization of American States, which sent an observation mission to the election held on 30 November.
Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “Honduras, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge the great work carried out by the councillors and the whole staff that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am prepared to lead. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.
Nasralla refused to concede and published a number of messages claiming manipulation in the counting process, including “tampering with official records”, asserting that “the data from the original tally sheets were altered”.
The electoral council is composed 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 nominee came in third place. Asfura’s win was declared only by the initial pair of councillors.
The member linked to the president’s party rejected the result, claimed that an “electoral coup” was under way and filed a complaint with the attorney general, opening the possibility that the outcome will be challenged in court.
In its announcement, the council declared: “By the sovereign choice of the people of Honduras, expressed sovereignly at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term beginning on 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”
The proclamation before the end of the recount was the most recent in a series of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s election campaign, starting with what many saw as open interference by the US president.
Days before the vote, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated the US would back the next government only if he won, and attacked the other main contenders, calling them communists 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 ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for reportedly creating “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.
The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on social media. “The people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and anticipates working with his government to advance economic growth and security in our region.”
