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

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

The election authority declared a victor prior to finishing the review of all tally sheets under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to recount votes marked as “irregular”. The move was decried by defeated candidates and deplored by the OAS, which deployed an monitoring team to the poll held on 30 November.

Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “Honduras, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [electoral council]. I recognise the tremendous effort 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 published a number of messages claiming manipulation in the counting process, including “forgery of public documents”, claiming that “the figures from the initial count sheets were altered”.

The election board is made up of three members: 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 win was announced only by the initial pair of councillors.

The representative associated with the president’s party rejected the outcome, claimed that an “stolen election” was taking place and filed a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, opening the possibility that the outcome will be contested in the judiciary.

In its statement, the council said: “By the majority will of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the polls, the full council of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term beginning on 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”

The proclamation before the end of the review was the latest in a series of controversies that marked the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state.

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

On the eve of the election, the US president also granted clemency for the former Honduran president and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for reportedly establishing “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.

The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on a public platform. “The people of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his government to promote economic growth and security in our hemisphere.”