Trump-Backed Contender Asfura Declared New President of the Central American Nation
Former President Trump-endorsed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the winner of Honduras’s race for the presidency after a ballot tally that extended for almost a month and was marred by claims of irregularities and criticism of meddling from the US president.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and ex-mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 ballots.
The electoral council declared a victor before completing the review of all tally sheets under a “special scrutiny” initiated last week to recount votes flagged as “irregular”. The move was decried by defeated candidates and lamented by the OAS, which sent an observation mission to the poll held on 30 November.
Asfura has proclaimed himself as president-elect. “Honduras, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge the great work undertaken by the members and the entire team that ran the election. Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.
Nasralla declined to accept defeat and posted a series of statements claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, claiming that “the data from the original tally sheets were changed”.
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 win was announced only by the initial pair of councillors.
The member associated with the president’s party rejected the outcome, alleged that an “stolen election” was taking place and filed a legal challenge with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the result will be challenged in the judiciary.
In its statement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, expressed sovereignly at the polls, the plenary session of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional 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 review was the most recent in a string of controversies that marked the Central American country’s election campaign, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state.
Shortly prior to the vote, Trump publicly backed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he won, and attacked the other main contenders, calling them communists or allies of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.
On the night of the election, the US president also granted clemency for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “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’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and anticipates working with his government to advance economic growth and security in our hemisphere.”
