Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Declared New Head of State of the Central American Nation

Former President Trump-endorsed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the victor of Honduras’s race for the presidency following a vote count that dragged on for nearly four weeks 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, obtained 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes.

The election authority proclaimed a winner before completing the review of all tally sheets under a “special scrutiny” launched last week to re-tally votes marked as “inconsistent”. The move was decried by defeated candidates and deplored by the Organization of American States, 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 official declaration from the CNE [electoral council]. I recognise the tremendous effort carried out by the members and the entire team that ran 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 published a number of messages alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, asserting that “the data from the initial count sheets were altered”.

The election board is made up of three councillors: 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 announced only by the first two councillors.

The member linked to the president’s party refused to recognise the result, alleged that an “stolen election” was under way and filed a complaint with the attorney general, opening the possibility that the outcome will be challenged in court.

In its statement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, expressed sovereignly at the ballot box, the plenary session of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term starting 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”

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

Days before the vote, Trump publicly backed Asfura, stated the US would back the next government only if he won, and criticized the other leading candidates, labeling them socialists or associates of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.

On the night of the election, the US president also granted clemency for the former Honduran president and Asfura ally 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 social media. “The people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates president-elect Asfura and anticipates collaborating with his administration to advance prosperity and security in our hemisphere.”