Trump-Backed Contender Asfura Declared Incoming Head of State of Honduras

Former President Trump-endorsed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a ballot tally that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was clouded by fraud allegations and accusations of meddling from the US president.

The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and ex-mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes.

The election authority proclaimed a winner prior to finishing the examination of all tally sheets under a “special scrutiny” launched last week to re-tally votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The decision was criticised by defeated candidates and lamented by the Organization of American States, which sent an observation mission 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 recognise the great work carried out by the councillors and the entire team that administered the election. My fellow citizens: 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 claiming manipulation in the counting process, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the data from the initial count sheets were altered”.

The electoral council is made up of three councillors: one aligned with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the leftist president, Xiomara Castro, whose nominee finished third. Asfura’s victory was declared only by the first two councillors.

The member linked to the president’s party rejected the result, claimed that an “electoral coup” was under way and lodged a legal challenge with the attorney general, opening the possibility that the outcome will be challenged in the judiciary.

In its statement, the council said: “By the majority will of the Honduran people, expressed sovereignly at the polls, 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 ending on 27 January 2030.”

The declaration before the end of the review was the most recent in a string of disputes that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state.

Shortly prior to the vote, Trump publicly backed Asfura, stated the US would back the next government only if he was victorious, and attacked the other leading candidates, labeling them socialists or associates of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.

On the eve of the election, the American leader also announced a pardon for the former Honduran president and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for reportedly establishing “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’ next president,” stated Rubio. “The United States congratulates president-elect Asfura and anticipates working with his administration to advance economic growth and safety in our hemisphere.”