Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Proclaimed Incoming Head of State of Honduras
Former President Trump-endorsed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the winner of Honduras’s race for the presidency after a vote count that extended for nearly four weeks and was clouded by fraud allegations and accusations of interference by the American leader.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and former mayor of the capital city, 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 review of all tally sheets under a “special scrutiny” initiated last week to re-tally votes flagged as “irregular”. The move was criticised by defeated candidates and deplored by the OAS, which sent an observation mission to the election held on 30 November.
Asfura has already declared himself the elected president. “The nation, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I recognise the great work carried out by the councillors and the entire team that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.
Nasralla refused to concede and posted a series of statements claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, claiming that “the data 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 nominee came in third place. Asfura’s victory was announced only by the first two councillors.
The representative linked to the president’s party refused to recognise the outcome, alleged that an “stolen election” was under way and lodged a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the outcome will be challenged in court.
In its announcement, the council declared: “By the sovereign choice of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term beginning on 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”
The proclamation prior to the conclusion of the recount was the most recent in a series of controversies that marked the Central American country’s election campaign, starting with what many saw as open interference by the American head of state.
Days before the election, Trump publicly backed Asfura, said the US would back the next government only if he won, and attacked the other leading candidates, labeling them communists or allies 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 sentenced 45 years in prison for reportedly creating “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.
The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on a public platform. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” stated Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to president-elect Asfura and looks forward to working with his government to promote prosperity and safety in our hemisphere.”
