Former US President-Endorsed Candidate Asfura Declared New Head of State of Honduras
Former President Trump-endorsed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the victor of Honduras’s race for the presidency after a vote count that extended for almost a month and was marred by fraud allegations and criticism of interference by the American leader.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and ex-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 election authority declared a victor before completing the examination of all tally sheets under a “special scrutiny” initiated last week to re-tally votes marked as “inconsistent”. The decision was criticised by defeated candidates and lamented by the OAS, which sent 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 members 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 wrote.
Nasralla declined to accept defeat and published a number of messages alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the data from the original tally sheets were changed”.
The election board is composed of three members: 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 victory was declared only by the initial pair of councillors.
The member linked to the president’s party rejected the outcome, alleged that an “stolen election” was taking place and lodged a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the outcome will be contested in the judiciary.
In its announcement, the council said: “By the sovereign choice of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the polls, the full council 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 ending on 27 January 2030.”
The declaration before the end of the review was the latest in a series of controversies that marked the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as blatant meddling by the US president.
Shortly prior to the vote, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he won, and criticized the other main contenders, labeling them socialists or allies of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.
On the night of the election, the American leader also granted clemency for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for reportedly establishing “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.
The US secretary of state, 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 administration to advance prosperity and safety in our hemisphere.”
