Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Proclaimed New Head of State of Honduras

Former President Trump-endorsed 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 overshadowed by fraud allegations and criticism of interference by the US president.

The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and ex-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 “extraordinary review” initiated last week to recount votes flagged as “irregular”. The decision was decried by defeated candidates and deplored 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 official declaration from the CNE [electoral council]. I recognise the tremendous effort undertaken by the members and the entire team that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am ready to govern. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he stated.

Nasralla refused to concede and posted a series of statements claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, claiming that “the figures from the initial count sheets were changed”.

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 candidate finished third. Asfura’s victory was declared only by the first two councillors.

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

In its statement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, 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 four-year term beginning on 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”

The declaration before the end 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 open interference by the US president.

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

On the night 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 social media. “The citizens of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” stated Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to the elected president Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his government to promote prosperity and security in our region.”