Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Declared Incoming Head of State of Honduras
Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the victor of Honduras’s presidential election following a vote count that extended for nearly four weeks 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, 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 election authority declared a victor prior to finishing the examination of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to recount votes marked as “inconsistent”. The decision was criticised by unsuccessful contenders and deplored by the OAS, which deployed an monitoring team 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 [electoral council]. I acknowledge the tremendous effort undertaken by the councillors and the whole staff that ran the election. Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he stated.
Nasralla declined to accept defeat and published a series of statements claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the figures from the initial count sheets were changed”.
The election board is made up of three councillors: one aligned with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the progressive president, Xiomara Castro, whose candidate came in third place. Asfura’s win was announced only by the initial pair of councillors.
The member linked to the president’s party rejected the result, claimed that an “stolen election” was taking place and lodged a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the result will be contested in court.
In its statement, the council said: “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 concluding on 27 January 2030.”
The declaration prior to the conclusion of the recount was the most recent in a string 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, stated the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and criticized the other main contenders, calling them communists or associates of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.
On the night of the election, the American leader also announced a pardon for the former Honduran president and Asfura ally 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, offered congratulations to Asfura on social media. “The citizens of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” stated Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and anticipates collaborating with his administration to promote prosperity and security in our hemisphere.”
