Former US President-Endorsed Candidate Asfura Declared Incoming President of the Central American Nation
Former President Trump-endorsed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the victor of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that dragged on for almost a month and was overshadowed by claims of irregularities and accusations of meddling from the US president.
The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and ex-mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 ballots.
The election authority declared a victor before completing the examination of all vote records under a “special scrutiny” initiated last week to re-tally votes marked as “inconsistent”. The decision was decried by defeated candidates and lamented by the OAS, which sent an observation mission to the election held on 30 November.
Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “The nation, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge the great work carried out by the councillors 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 wrote.
Nasralla declined to accept defeat and published a number of messages claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, asserting that “the data from the original tally sheets were changed”.
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 leftist president, Xiomara Castro, whose nominee came in third place. Asfura’s win was declared only by the first two councillors.
The member associated with the president’s party rejected the outcome, alleged that an “electoral coup” was under way and lodged a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office, opening the possibility that the result will be challenged in the judiciary.
In its statement, the council said: “By the sovereign choice of the Honduran people, 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 presidential term beginning on 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”
The proclamation prior to the conclusion of the review was the most recent in a string of disputes that marked the Central American country’s election campaign, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the US president.
Days before the election, Trump publicly backed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and criticized the other leading candidates, calling them socialists or associates of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.
On the night of the election, the American leader also granted clemency for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for allegedly establishing “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on a public platform. “The people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates president-elect Asfura and looks forward to working with his administration to advance economic growth and safety in our region.”
