Trump-Backed Contender Asfura Declared Incoming President of Honduras
Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was marred by fraud allegations and accusations of interference by the American leader.
The conservative Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and ex-mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes.
The electoral council declared a victor prior to finishing the review of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to re-tally votes marked as “irregular”. The decision was decried by unsuccessful contenders and deplored by the Organization of American States, which sent an observation mission to the poll held on 30 November.
Asfura has proclaimed himself as the elected president. “Honduras, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I recognise the tremendous effort carried out by the members and the whole staff that administered 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 published a series of statements alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, claiming that “the figures 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 first two councillors.
The representative linked to the president’s party refused to recognise the outcome, claimed that an “electoral coup” was taking place and lodged a legal challenge with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the result will be contested in the judiciary.
In its statement, the council said: “By the sovereign choice of the Honduran people, expressed sovereignly at the polls, the full council of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term beginning on 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”
The declaration prior to the conclusion of the recount was the most recent in a series of disputes that marked the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state.
Shortly prior to the election, Trump publicly backed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and attacked the other main contenders, labeling them socialists or associates of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.
On the eve of the election, the US president also announced a pardon for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for allegedly establishing “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.
The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on a public platform. “The people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates president-elect Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his administration to advance economic growth and safety in our hemisphere.”
