Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Proclaimed New Head of State of Honduras
Former President Trump-endorsed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the winner of Honduras’s race for the presidency following a vote count that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was overshadowed by claims of irregularities and accusations of meddling from the US president.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and ex-mayor of the capital, 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 examination of all tally sheets under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to re-tally votes flagged as “irregular”. The move was decried by defeated candidates and lamented by the OAS, which deployed an monitoring team to the poll held on 30 November.
Asfura has already declared himself the elected president. “Honduras, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge the tremendous effort undertaken by the members and the entire team that ran the election. Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.
Nasralla refused to concede and posted a series of statements claiming manipulation in the counting process, including “tampering with official records”, asserting that “the data from the initial count sheets were altered”.
The electoral council is made up of three councillors: one affiliated with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the progressive president, Xiomara Castro, whose candidate finished third. Asfura’s win was declared only by the first two councillors.
The representative linked to the president’s party rejected the result, alleged that an “stolen election” was under way and lodged a complaint with the attorney general, opening the possibility that the outcome will be contested in the judiciary.
In its statement, the council said: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, expressed sovereignly at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term starting 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 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 openly endorsed Asfura, said the US would back the next government only if he won, 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 US president also granted clemency for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, congratulated 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 anticipates collaborating with his administration to advance prosperity and safety in our hemisphere.”
