Former US President-Endorsed Candidate Asfura Proclaimed Incoming Head of State of Honduras
Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the winner of Honduras’s race for the presidency following a vote count that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was marred by fraud allegations and accusations of meddling from the American leader.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and former 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 votes.
The electoral council proclaimed a winner before completing the examination of all tally sheets under a “special scrutiny” launched last week to re-tally votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The decision was decried by defeated candidates and lamented by the Organization of American States, which sent an observation mission to the poll held on 30 November.
Asfura has proclaimed himself as the elected president. “The nation, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge the great work carried out by the members and the whole staff that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am prepared to lead. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.
Nasralla declined to accept defeat and posted 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 altered”.
The electoral council is composed of three members: one affiliated with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the leftist president, Xiomara Castro, whose nominee finished third. Asfura’s victory was declared only by the initial pair of councillors.
The representative associated with the president’s party rejected the outcome, alleged that an “electoral coup” was taking place and filed a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the result will be challenged in the judiciary.
In its announcement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, 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 presidential term beginning on 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”
The declaration before the end of the recount was the latest in a string of disputes that marked the Central American country’s election campaign, beginning with what many saw as open interference by the US president.
Shortly prior to the vote, Trump publicly backed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he won, 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 announced a pardon for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for reportedly establishing “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.
The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on social media. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” stated Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and anticipates working with his government to advance prosperity and security in our region.”
