Former US President-Endorsed Candidate Asfura Declared Incoming Head of State of Honduras
Former President Trump-endorsed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a ballot tally that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was overshadowed by fraud allegations and accusations of meddling from the American leader.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes.
The election authority proclaimed a winner prior to finishing the review of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to re-tally votes marked as “inconsistent”. The move was criticised by defeated candidates and deplored by the OAS, 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 formal proclamation from the CNE [electoral council]. I acknowledge the great work undertaken by the members and the whole staff that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am ready to govern. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.
Nasralla refused to concede and published a series of statements claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, asserting that “the data from the initial count 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 progressive president, Xiomara Castro, whose candidate finished third. Asfura’s win was declared only by the first two councillors.
The representative linked to the president’s party rejected the outcome, claimed that an “stolen election” was taking place and lodged a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the outcome will be challenged in court.
In its announcement, the council said: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, expressed sovereignly at the polls, the plenary session of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term starting 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”
The declaration before the end of the recount was the latest in a series of disputes that marked the Central American country’s election campaign, beginning with what many saw as open interference by the American head of state.
Days before the vote, Trump publicly backed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he won, and attacked the other main contenders, labeling them socialists or allies of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.
On the night 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 establishing “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on social media. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to president-elect Asfura and anticipates collaborating with his government to promote economic growth and security in our region.”
