Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Declared New President of Honduras
Former President Trump-endorsed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the winner of Honduras’s race for the presidency after a vote count that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was overshadowed by claims of irregularities and criticism of interference by the US president.
The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 votes.
The electoral council proclaimed a winner before completing the examination of all tally sheets under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to recount votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The move was decried by unsuccessful contenders 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 formal proclamation from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I recognise the great work undertaken by the councillors and the entire team that ran the election. Honduras: I am prepared to lead. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he stated.
Nasralla refused to concede and published a series of statements claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, asserting that “the figures from the original tally sheets were altered”.
The election board 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 candidate came in third place. Asfura’s win was declared only by the first two councillors.
The representative associated with the president’s party rejected the outcome, claimed that an “electoral coup” was under way and filed a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office, opening the possibility that the outcome will be contested in court.
In its announcement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the ballot box, the plenary session of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate president of the Republic of Honduras for the four-year term beginning on 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”
The declaration prior to the conclusion of the recount was the most recent in a string of disputes that marked the Central American country’s election campaign, starting with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state.
Shortly prior to the vote, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated 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 granted clemency for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter 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 social media. “The people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” stated Rubio. “The United States congratulates president-elect Asfura and anticipates working with his government to advance economic growth and security in our region.”
