Trump-Backed Contender Asfura Declared New President of the Central American Nation
Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the victor of Honduras’s race for the presidency after a vote count that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was marred by fraud allegations and accusations of meddling from the US president.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 ballots.
The electoral council proclaimed a winner prior to finishing the review of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to recount votes marked as “inconsistent”. The move was criticised by unsuccessful contenders and lamented by the Organization of American States, which deployed an monitoring team to the poll 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 acknowledge the tremendous effort undertaken by the members and the whole staff that administered the election. My fellow citizens: 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 claiming manipulation in the counting process, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the figures from the initial count sheets were changed”.
The electoral council is made up of three members: one affiliated with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the leftist president, Xiomara Castro, whose candidate came in third place. Asfura’s victory was declared only by the initial pair of councillors.
The member linked to the president’s party rejected the result, alleged that an “electoral coup” was taking place and filed a legal challenge with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the outcome will be challenged in court.
In its statement, the council said: “By the sovereign choice of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the polls, the plenary session of the CNE proclaims 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 proclamation before the end of the review was the latest in a series of disputes that marked the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as blatant meddling by the US president.
Shortly prior to the election, Trump publicly backed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and criticized the other main contenders, calling them communists 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 allegedly creating “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.
The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on social media. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” stated Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to the elected president Asfura and anticipates working with his government to promote economic growth and safety in our hemisphere.”