Trump-Backed Contender Asfura Proclaimed Incoming President of Honduras

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 overshadowed by claims of irregularities and criticism of meddling from the US president.

The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and ex-mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes.

The electoral council proclaimed a winner prior to finishing the review of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to re-tally votes flagged as “irregular”. The decision was decried by defeated candidates and deplored by the Organization of American States, which sent an monitoring team to the poll held on 30 November.

Asfura has proclaimed himself as president-elect. “The nation, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [electoral council]. I acknowledge the great work undertaken by the councillors and the whole staff that administered the election. My fellow citizens: I am ready to govern. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.

Nasralla declined to accept defeat and published a number of messages claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the data from the initial count sheets were altered”.

The electoral council is composed 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 nominee came in third place. Asfura’s victory was announced only by the initial pair of councillors.

The member associated with the president’s party refused to recognise the result, alleged that an “electoral coup” was taking place and lodged a legal challenge with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the outcome will be contested 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 proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the four-year term starting 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”

The declaration before the end of the review was the most recent in a string of disputes that marked the Central American country’s election campaign, starting with what many saw as blatant meddling 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 main contenders, calling them socialists or allies of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.

On the night of the election, the American leader also granted clemency for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for allegedly establishing “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.

The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on social media. “The people of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” stated Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and anticipates working with his government to promote economic growth and security in our hemisphere.”