Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Declared Incoming President of the Central American Nation
Former President Trump-endorsed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the victor of Honduras’s race for the presidency after a ballot tally that dragged on for almost a month and was clouded by claims of irregularities and accusations of meddling from the US president.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and ex-mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes.
The electoral council declared a victor before completing the examination of all tally sheets under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to re-tally votes marked as “inconsistent”. The move was decried by unsuccessful contenders and lamented by the Organization of American States, which sent an monitoring team to the poll held on 30 November.
Asfura has proclaimed himself as president-elect. “Honduras, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge the tremendous effort carried out by the members and the whole staff that ran 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 posted a number of messages alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, claiming 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 progressive president, Xiomara Castro, whose candidate finished third. Asfura’s victory was declared only by the first two councillors.
The member linked to the president’s party rejected the result, alleged that an “stolen election” was under way and filed a complaint with the attorney general, opening the possibility that the result will be challenged in court.
In its statement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, expressed freely at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term starting 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”
The proclamation prior to the conclusion of the review was the most recent in a series of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state.
Days before the vote, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he won, and criticized the other main contenders, calling them socialists or allies of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.
On the eve of the election, the US president also granted clemency for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.
The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on a public platform. “The citizens of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates president-elect Asfura and looks forward to working with his administration to advance prosperity and security in our hemisphere.”
