Trump-Backed Contender Asfura Proclaimed New President of Honduras

Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the victor of Honduras’s presidential election after a ballot tally that extended for almost a month and was overshadowed by fraud allegations and criticism of meddling from the American leader.

The conservative Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and ex-mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 ballots.

The election authority proclaimed a winner prior to finishing the examination of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to recount votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The move was decried by defeated candidates and deplored by the Organization of American States, which deployed an monitoring team to the election 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 great work carried out by the members and the whole staff that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am ready to govern. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he stated.

Nasralla declined to accept defeat and published a series of statements claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the figures from the original tally sheets were altered”.

The election board is composed of three councillors: 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 first two councillors.

The representative linked to the president’s party refused to recognise the outcome, alleged that an “stolen election” was under way and lodged a legal challenge with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the outcome will be challenged in the judiciary.

In its statement, the council said: “By the sovereign choice of the Honduran people, expressed sovereignly at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional 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 recount was the most recent in a series of controversies that marked the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as open interference by the US president.

Days before the vote, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and criticized the other leading candidates, labeling them communists or allies of Venezuela’s dictator, 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 given 45 years in prison for allegedly establishing “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on social media. “The citizens 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 administration to promote prosperity and safety in our hemisphere.”