Trump-Backed Candidate Asfura Proclaimed New Head of State of Honduras

Former President Trump-endorsed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the victor of Honduras’s race for the presidency after a vote count that extended for nearly four weeks and was marred by claims of irregularities and criticism of meddling from the US president.

The rightwing Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 ballots.

The electoral council declared a victor prior to finishing the examination of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to re-tally votes marked as “inconsistent”. The move was decried by defeated candidates and lamented by the OAS, which deployed an observation mission to the election held on 30 November.

Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “Honduras, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I recognise the tremendous effort carried out by the councillors and the entire team that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am prepared to lead. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.

Nasralla refused to concede and posted a number of messages claiming manipulation in the counting process, including “forgery of public documents”, claiming that “the data from the original tally sheets were changed”.

The election board is made up 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 candidate finished third. Asfura’s victory was announced only by the first two councillors.

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

In its statement, the council declared: “By the sovereign choice of the Honduran people, 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 concluding on 27 January 2030.”

The declaration prior to the conclusion of the recount was the most recent in a string of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the US president.

Shortly prior to 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 eve of the election, the American leader also announced a pardon for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for allegedly establishing “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on a public platform. “The citizens of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” stated Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to president-elect Asfura and looks forward to working with his administration to advance economic growth and safety in our region.”