Trump-Backed Contender Asfura Proclaimed Incoming President of Honduras
Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the victor of Honduras’s presidential election after a ballot tally that extended for nearly four weeks and was clouded by fraud allegations and accusations of meddling from the American leader.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and former mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes.
The election authority declared a victor prior to finishing the review of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to re-tally votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The decision was decried by unsuccessful contenders and deplored by the OAS, which deployed an observation mission to the election 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 recognise the tremendous effort undertaken by the councillors and the entire team that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am prepared to lead. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.
Nasralla declined to accept defeat and published a series of statements alleging fraud in the counting process, including “tampering with official records”, claiming that “the figures from the initial count sheets were altered”.
The electoral council is composed of three councillors: one affiliated 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 victory was announced only by the first two councillors.
The representative associated with the president’s party rejected the result, alleged that an “electoral coup” was under way and lodged a legal challenge with the attorney general, opening the possibility that the result will be contested in court.
In its announcement, the council said: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, expressed freely at the ballot box, the plenary session of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term starting 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”
The proclamation before the end of the review was the most recent in a series of controversies that marked the Central American country’s election campaign, beginning with what many saw as open interference by the US president.
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 allies of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.
On the eve of the election, the American leader also granted clemency for the former Honduran president and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for reportedly creating “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.
The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on a public platform. “The citizens 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 promote economic growth and security in our hemisphere.”