Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Proclaimed Incoming President of Honduras
Former President Trump-endorsed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the winner of Honduras’s race for the presidency after a ballot tally that extended for almost a month and was overshadowed by fraud allegations and accusations of interference by the US president.
The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital city, 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 prior to finishing the examination of all vote records under a “special scrutiny” initiated last week to re-tally votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The move was criticised by unsuccessful contenders and deplored by the OAS, which sent an monitoring team to the poll held on 30 November.
Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “Honduras, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [electoral council]. I acknowledge the great work undertaken by the members and the entire team that administered the election. My fellow citizens: I am ready to govern. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he stated.
Nasralla refused to concede 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 made up 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 declared only by the first two councillors.
The member associated with the president’s party refused to recognise the result, alleged that an “electoral coup” was under way and filed a legal challenge with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the outcome will be contested in the judiciary.
In its announcement, the council said: “By the sovereign choice of the people of Honduras, expressed freely at the ballot box, the plenary session of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the four-year term beginning on 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”
The declaration prior to the conclusion of the recount was the most recent in a string of controversies that marked the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as open interference by the US president.
Days before the election, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he won, and attacked the other main contenders, calling them socialists or associates of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.
On the eve of the election, the US president also announced a pardon for the former Honduran president and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.
The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on a public platform. “The people of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to the elected president Asfura and looks forward to working with his administration to promote economic growth and security in our region.”
