Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Declared Incoming Head of State of Honduras
Former President Trump-endorsed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was marred by claims of irregularities and accusations of interference by the American leader.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and ex-mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 ballots.
The election authority proclaimed a winner prior to finishing the review of all tally sheets under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to recount votes marked as “inconsistent”. The decision was decried by unsuccessful contenders and deplored by the Organization of American States, which deployed an monitoring team to the poll 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 acknowledge the great work undertaken by the councillors and the entire team that ran the election. Honduras: I am prepared to lead. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he stated.
Nasralla refused to concede and published a series of statements alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, asserting that “the data from the original tally 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 leftist president, Xiomara Castro, whose candidate finished third. Asfura’s win was announced only by the first two councillors.
The representative associated with the president’s party refused to recognise the result, claimed that an “stolen election” was taking place and filed a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office, opening the possibility that the outcome will be contested in the judiciary.
In its statement, the council said: “By the majority will of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the polls, the full council of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the four-year term starting 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”
The declaration before the end of the recount was the latest in a string of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state.
Days before the election, Trump publicly backed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and criticized the other leading candidates, calling them communists or associates of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.
On the eve of the election, the US president also granted clemency for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for allegedly establishing “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.
The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on a public platform. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” stated Rubio. “The United States congratulates president-elect Asfura and looks forward to working with his administration to promote economic growth and security in our region.”
