Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Proclaimed New President of Honduras

Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the winner of Honduras’s race for the presidency following a ballot tally that extended for nearly four weeks and was marred by claims of irregularities and criticism of interference by the American leader.

The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, against 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 marked as “inconsistent”. The decision was criticised by unsuccessful contenders and deplored by the OAS, which deployed an monitoring team to the poll held on 30 November.

Asfura has already declared himself the elected president. “The nation, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge the great work undertaken by the councillors and the entire team that ran the election. Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.

Nasralla refused to concede and posted a series of statements alleging fraud in the counting process, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the data from the initial count sheets were altered”.

The electoral council is composed 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 nominee finished third. Asfura’s win was declared only by the first two councillors.

The representative associated with the president’s party rejected the result, alleged that an “stolen election” was taking place and filed a legal challenge with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the result will be contested in the judiciary.

In its statement, the council said: “By the sovereign choice of the people of Honduras, expressed sovereignly at the polls, the plenary session of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term beginning on 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”

The declaration before the end of the recount was the latest in a series of controversies 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 support the next government only if he won, and criticized the other leading candidates, calling them socialists or allies of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.

On the eve 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 establishing “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.

The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on social media. “The citizens of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” stated Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to president-elect Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his government to advance prosperity and security in our hemisphere.”