Former US President-Endorsed Candidate Asfura Proclaimed New President of Honduras
Former President Trump-endorsed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the winner of Honduras’s race for the presidency after a ballot tally that extended for almost a month and was marred by fraud allegations and accusations of interference by the American leader.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and ex-mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 ballots.
The election authority proclaimed a winner before completing the examination of all vote records under a “special scrutiny” initiated last week to recount votes marked as “inconsistent”. The move was criticised by defeated candidates and lamented by the Organization of American States, which deployed an monitoring team to the poll held on 30 November.
Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “The nation, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [electoral council]. I recognise the great work undertaken by the councillors and the whole staff that administered the election. My fellow citizens: I am prepared to lead. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he stated.
Nasralla declined to accept defeat and posted a series of statements alleging fraud in the counting process, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the data from the original tally sheets were altered”.
The election board 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 finished third. Asfura’s victory was declared only by the first two councillors.
The member linked to the president’s party refused to recognise the outcome, claimed that an “electoral coup” was taking place and filed a complaint with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the outcome will be challenged in the judiciary.
In its announcement, the council declared: “By the sovereign choice of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the ballot box, the plenary session of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the four-year term starting 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”
The declaration before the end of the recount was the most recent in a string of controversies that marked the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the US president.
Shortly prior to the election, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, said the US would back the next government only if he was victorious, and attacked the other main contenders, calling them communists or allies of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.
On the night of the election, the American leader also announced a pardon for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.
The US secretary of state, 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 the elected president Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his administration to advance prosperity and safety in our hemisphere.”
