Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Proclaimed New President of Honduras
Former President Trump-endorsed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the victor of Honduras’s presidential election following a ballot tally that extended for almost a month 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 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 before completing the review of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to recount votes marked as “irregular”. The move was criticised by unsuccessful contenders and deplored by the OAS, which deployed an observation mission to the election held on 30 November.
Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “The nation, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I recognise the tremendous effort carried out by the members and the whole staff that ran the election. Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.
Nasralla refused to concede and published a number of messages claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, claiming that “the data from the initial count sheets were changed”.
The electoral council is made up of three members: one aligned with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the leftist president, Xiomara Castro, whose nominee came in third place. Asfura’s win was declared only by the initial pair of councillors.
The representative associated with the president’s party refused to recognise the result, alleged that an “stolen election” was under way and filed a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, opening the possibility that the outcome will be contested in the judiciary.
In its statement, the council declared: “By the sovereign choice of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the polls, the full council of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term beginning on 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”
The declaration prior to the conclusion of the recount was the latest in a series of controversies that marked the Central American country’s election campaign, starting with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state.
Days before the vote, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated the US would back the next government only if he won, and criticized the other leading candidates, labeling them socialists or allies of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.
On the eve of the election, the American leader also granted clemency for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for reportedly establishing “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.
The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on a public platform. “The citizens of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and anticipates collaborating with his administration to promote economic growth and security in our region.”
