Trump-Backed Candidate Asfura Proclaimed New Head of State of Honduras
Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the victor of Honduras’s race for the presidency following a ballot tally that extended for almost a month and was marred by claims of irregularities and accusations of interference by the US president.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes.
The electoral council declared a victor before completing the examination of all vote records under a “special scrutiny” initiated last week to recount votes flagged as “irregular”. The move was decried by defeated candidates and lamented by the OAS, which deployed an monitoring team to the poll held on 30 November.
Asfura has proclaimed himself as the elected president. “Honduras, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge the tremendous effort undertaken by the councillors and the whole staff that ran the election. Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.
Nasralla refused to concede and published a series of statements 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 affiliated 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 win was declared only by the initial pair of councillors.
The member associated with the president’s party refused to recognise the outcome, claimed that an “stolen election” was taking place and filed a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the outcome will be challenged in the judiciary.
In its statement, the council said: “By the sovereign choice 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 four-year term starting 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”
The proclamation prior to the conclusion of the recount was the most recent in a string of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s election campaign, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the US president.
Shortly prior to the vote, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated the US would back the next government only if he won, and attacked the other main contenders, calling them socialists or allies of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.
On the eve of the election, the American leader also announced a pardon for the ex-leader of Honduras 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, congratulated Asfura on social media. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates president-elect Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his government to advance economic growth and safety in our region.”
