Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Declared New Head of State of Honduras
Former President Trump-endorsed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the victor of Honduras’s presidential election after a ballot tally that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was marred by fraud allegations and criticism of meddling from the US president.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 ballots.
The election authority declared a victor before completing the examination of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to re-tally votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The decision was decried by defeated candidates and deplored 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 recognise the great work undertaken by the councillors and the whole staff that administered the election. Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he stated.
Nasralla declined to accept defeat and published a series of statements alleging fraud in the counting process, including “forgery of public documents”, claiming that “the data from the original tally sheets were changed”.
The electoral council is made up 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 finished third. Asfura’s win was declared only by the initial pair of councillors.
The member associated with the president’s party rejected the outcome, alleged that an “electoral coup” was taking place and filed a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the result will be contested in court.
In its statement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, expressed freely at the polls, the plenary session of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the four-year term beginning on 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”
The proclamation before the end of the recount was the latest in a series of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as open interference by the American head of state.
Days before the vote, Trump publicly backed Asfura, said the US would back the next government only if he won, and attacked the other main contenders, labeling them socialists or associates of Venezuela’s dictator, 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 sentenced 45 years in prison for allegedly establishing “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on a public platform. “The people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to the elected president Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his government to promote prosperity and security in our hemisphere.”
