Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Declared Incoming President of Honduras
Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the victor of Honduras’s race for the presidency after a vote count that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was overshadowed by fraud allegations and criticism of interference by the American leader.
The conservative Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 votes.
The electoral council proclaimed a winner prior to finishing the examination of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to re-tally votes marked as “inconsistent”. The move was criticised by defeated candidates and deplored by the OAS, which sent an monitoring team to the poll 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 undertaken 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 wrote.
Nasralla declined to accept defeat and posted a number of messages claiming manipulation in the counting process, including “tampering with official records”, claiming that “the figures from the original tally sheets were altered”.
The electoral council is composed of three councillors: one affiliated with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the leftist president, Xiomara Castro, whose nominee finished third. Asfura’s victory was declared only by the initial pair of councillors.
The member associated with the president’s party rejected the result, claimed that an “electoral coup” was under way and filed a legal challenge with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the outcome 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 ending on 27 January 2030.”
The proclamation before the end of the recount was the most recent in a string of disputes that marked the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as open interference by the US president.
Shortly prior to the vote, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he won, and attacked the other main contenders, labeling them communists or allies of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.
On the night of the election, the US president also announced a pardon for the former Honduran president and Asfura ally 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 people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to president-elect Asfura and looks forward to working with his administration to promote economic growth and security in our hemisphere.”
