Trump-Backed Candidate Asfura Declared Incoming President of the Central American Nation
Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the victor of Honduras’s race for the presidency after a vote count that dragged on for almost a month and was overshadowed by claims of irregularities and criticism of interference by the US president.
The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and ex-mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 votes.
The electoral council proclaimed a winner prior to finishing the examination of all vote records under a “special scrutiny” initiated last week to re-tally votes flagged as “irregular”. The move was criticised by defeated candidates and deplored by the OAS, which sent an monitoring team to the poll held on 30 November.
Asfura has proclaimed himself as the elected president. “The nation, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I recognise the great work carried out by the members and the entire team that administered the election. My fellow citizens: I am prepared to lead. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he stated.
Nasralla refused to concede and posted a number of messages claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, asserting that “the data from the initial count sheets were altered”.
The electoral council is composed of three councillors: one aligned 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 win was announced only by the initial pair of councillors.
The member linked to the president’s party rejected the result, claimed that an “stolen election” was under way and filed a legal challenge with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the result will be contested in the judiciary.
In its announcement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, expressed freely at the polls, the full council 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 proclamation before the end of the review was the most recent in a series of disputes that marked the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as open interference by the American head of state.
Shortly prior to the election, Trump publicly backed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and criticized the other main contenders, 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 ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for allegedly 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’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and looks forward to working with his administration to advance economic growth and safety in our region.”
