Former US President-Endorsed Candidate Asfura Declared Incoming Head of State of Honduras
Former President Trump-endorsed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the victor of Honduras’s race for the presidency after a ballot tally that extended for almost a month and was clouded by fraud allegations and criticism of meddling from the American leader.
The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 ballots.
The electoral council declared a victor prior to finishing the review of all tally sheets under a “special scrutiny” launched last week to recount votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The move was decried by defeated candidates and deplored by the OAS, which sent an observation mission to the election held on 30 November.
Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “Honduras, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [electoral council]. I recognise the great work undertaken by the members and the entire team that administered the election. Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he stated.
Nasralla declined to accept defeat and published a number of messages claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, claiming that “the data from the original tally sheets were changed”.
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 leftist president, Xiomara Castro, whose candidate finished third. Asfura’s win was announced only by the first two councillors.
The representative associated with the president’s party rejected the outcome, alleged that an “electoral coup” was taking place and lodged a legal challenge with the attorney general, opening the possibility that the outcome will be challenged in court.
In its announcement, the council said: “By the majority will of the Honduran people, expressed sovereignly at the ballot box, the plenary session of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term beginning on 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”
The declaration before the end of the review was the most recent in a string of disputes that characterized the Central American country’s election campaign, beginning with what many saw as open interference by the American head of state.
Days before the election, Trump publicly backed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and attacked the other leading candidates, calling them communists or allies of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.
On the night of the election, the US president also announced a pardon for the former Honduran president and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for reportedly creating “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on a public platform. “The people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” stated 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 hemisphere.”
