Trump-Backed Contender Asfura Proclaimed Incoming President of Honduras
Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a ballot tally that dragged on for almost a month and was overshadowed by fraud allegations and accusations of interference by the US president.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and ex-mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 ballots.
The electoral council proclaimed a winner prior to finishing the review of all vote records under a “special scrutiny” launched last week to re-tally votes marked as “irregular”. The decision was criticised by unsuccessful contenders and deplored by the Organization of American States, which sent an monitoring team to the election 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 recognise the great work undertaken by the members and the entire team 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 series of statements alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, claiming that “the data from the original tally sheets were changed”.
The electoral council 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 nominee finished third. Asfura’s victory was announced only by the first two councillors.
The member associated with the president’s party rejected the result, claimed that an “stolen election” was taking place and filed a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, opening the possibility that the outcome will be challenged in the judiciary.
In its announcement, the council said: “By the majority will of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the polls, the plenary session of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate 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 most recent in a series of controversies that characterized 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, stated the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and criticized the other main contenders, labeling them socialists or associates of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.
On the eve of the election, the American leader also granted clemency 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, congratulated Asfura on social media. “The people of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” stated Rubio. “The United States congratulates president-elect Asfura and anticipates collaborating with his administration to advance economic growth and safety in our hemisphere.”