Trump-Backed Contender Asfura Proclaimed New President of Honduras
Former President Trump-endorsed hopeful 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 building tycoon and former mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes.
The election authority declared a victor prior to finishing the examination of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to re-tally votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The move was decried by unsuccessful contenders and lamented by the Organization of American States, which deployed an monitoring team to the election held on 30 November.
Asfura has proclaimed himself as the elected president. “Honduras, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge the tremendous effort undertaken by the members and the entire team that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am prepared to lead. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he stated.
Nasralla declined to accept defeat and published a number of messages claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the figures 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 leftist president, Xiomara Castro, whose nominee came in third place. Asfura’s victory was declared only by the initial pair of councillors.
The representative associated with the president’s party rejected the result, alleged that an “stolen election” was taking place and filed a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the outcome will be challenged in court.
In its statement, the council declared: “By the sovereign choice of the people of Honduras, expressed freely at the polls, the full council of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term beginning on 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”
The proclamation before the end of the review was the most recent in a series of disputes that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state.
Shortly prior to the election, Trump publicly backed Asfura, stated the US would back the next government only if he won, and attacked 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 announced a pardon for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter 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 people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to president-elect Asfura and anticipates collaborating with his administration to advance economic growth and safety in our hemisphere.”