🔗 Share this article Trump-Backed Contender Asfura Declared Incoming President of the Central American Nation Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the victor of Honduras’s race for the presidency following a vote count that extended for nearly four weeks and was marred by fraud allegations and accusations of interference by the American leader. The rightwing Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 ballots. The electoral council declared a victor before completing the examination of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to re-tally votes marked as “inconsistent”. The decision was criticised by defeated candidates and deplored by the Organization of American States, which sent an monitoring team to the election held on 30 November. Asfura has proclaimed himself as the elected president. “Honduras, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [electoral council]. I acknowledge the tremendous effort undertaken by the members and the entire team that ran the election. Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he wrote. Nasralla declined to accept defeat and published a series of statements claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, asserting that “the data from the initial count sheets were changed”. The electoral council is made up of three members: one affiliated 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 first two councillors. The representative associated with the president’s party rejected the outcome, claimed that an “stolen election” was under way and lodged a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the result will be contested in court. In its announcement, the council said: “By the sovereign choice of the people of Honduras, expressed sovereignly at the polls, the full council 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 declaration prior to the conclusion of the recount was the latest in a string of controversies that marked the Central American country’s election campaign, beginning with what many saw as open interference by the US president. Shortly prior to the vote, Trump publicly backed Asfura, stated the US would back the next government only if he won, and attacked the other main contenders, labeling them communists or associates of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro. On the eve of the election, the US president also announced a pardon for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter 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 a public platform. “The people of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and anticipates working with his administration to promote economic growth and safety in our region.”
Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the victor of Honduras’s race for the presidency following a vote count that extended for nearly four weeks and was marred by fraud allegations and accusations of interference by the American leader. The rightwing Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 ballots. The electoral council declared a victor before completing the examination of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to re-tally votes marked as “inconsistent”. The decision was criticised by defeated candidates and deplored by the Organization of American States, which sent an monitoring team to the election held on 30 November. Asfura has proclaimed himself as the elected president. “Honduras, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [electoral council]. I acknowledge the tremendous effort undertaken by the members and the entire team that ran the election. Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he wrote. Nasralla declined to accept defeat and published a series of statements claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, asserting that “the data from the initial count sheets were changed”. The electoral council is made up of three members: one affiliated 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 first two councillors. The representative associated with the president’s party rejected the outcome, claimed that an “stolen election” was under way and lodged a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the result will be contested in court. In its announcement, the council said: “By the sovereign choice of the people of Honduras, expressed sovereignly at the polls, the full council 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 declaration prior to the conclusion of the recount was the latest in a string of controversies that marked the Central American country’s election campaign, beginning with what many saw as open interference by the US president. Shortly prior to the vote, Trump publicly backed Asfura, stated the US would back the next government only if he won, and attacked the other main contenders, labeling them communists or associates of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro. On the eve of the election, the US president also announced a pardon for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter 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 a public platform. “The people of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and anticipates working with his administration to promote economic growth and safety in our region.”