Trump-Backed Candidate Asfura Proclaimed Incoming Head of State of Honduras
Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the victor of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that extended for nearly four weeks and was overshadowed by claims of irregularities and accusations of interference by the US president.
The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and ex-mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes.
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 unsuccessful contenders and deplored by the OAS, which deployed an observation mission to the election 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 let you down. God bless Honduras,” he stated.
Nasralla declined to accept defeat and published a number of messages alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, claiming that “the figures from the initial count sheets were altered”.
The election board is composed of three councillors: one affiliated with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the progressive president, Xiomara Castro, whose nominee came in third place. Asfura’s victory was announced only by the initial pair of councillors.
The member linked to the president’s party rejected the outcome, alleged that an “electoral coup” was under way and filed a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the result will be contested in the judiciary.
In its announcement, the council said: “By the majority will of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate president of the Republic of Honduras for the four-year term beginning on 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”
The declaration before the end of the review was the most recent in a string of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the US president.
Days before the vote, Trump publicly backed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he won, 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 American leader also granted clemency for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for reportedly creating “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.
The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, congratulated 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 collaborating with his government to advance economic growth and security in our region.”
