Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Declared New Head of State of the Central American Nation
Former President Trump-endorsed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a ballot tally that extended for almost a month and was clouded by fraud allegations and accusations of interference by the US president.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and ex-mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 ballots.
The electoral council declared a victor before completing the examination of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to re-tally votes flagged as “irregular”. The decision was decried by unsuccessful contenders and deplored by the Organization of American States, which deployed an observation mission to the poll 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 tremendous effort carried out by the councillors and the entire team that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am ready to govern. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he stated.
Nasralla declined to accept defeat and published a series of statements claiming manipulation in the counting process, including “forgery of public documents”, claiming that “the figures from the initial count sheets were changed”.
The electoral council is made up of three members: one aligned with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the progressive president, Xiomara Castro, whose candidate came in third place. Asfura’s win was announced only by the initial pair of councillors.
The representative linked to the president’s party rejected the result, alleged that an “stolen election” was taking place and filed a complaint with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the outcome will be contested in the judiciary.
In its announcement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the Honduran people, expressed sovereignly at the polls, the plenary session 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 recount was the most recent in a string of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state.
Shortly prior to the vote, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, said the US would back the next government only if he won, and criticized the other main contenders, labeling them socialists or associates of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.
On the eve of the election, the American leader also announced a pardon for the ex-leader of Honduras 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 American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on social media. “The people of Honduras have made their choice: 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 promote prosperity and security in our hemisphere.”
