Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Proclaimed Incoming Head of State of the Central American Nation

Former President Trump-endorsed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the winner of Honduras’s race for the presidency after a ballot tally that extended for almost a month and was marred by claims of irregularities and criticism of meddling from the US president.

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

The electoral council proclaimed a winner before completing the review of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to recount votes marked as “inconsistent”. The decision was criticised by unsuccessful contenders 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 formal proclamation from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I recognise the great work undertaken by the councillors and the entire team that administered the election. Honduras: I am prepared to lead. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he stated.

Nasralla declined to accept defeat and posted a number of messages alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the data from the initial count sheets were changed”.

The electoral council is composed 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 victory was announced only by the first two councillors.

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

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

The declaration before the end of the review was the most recent in a series of controversies that marked the Central American country’s election campaign, beginning with what many saw as open interference by the American head of state.

Days before the vote, Trump publicly backed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and attacked the other main contenders, labeling them communists or associates of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.

On the night of the election, the US president also announced a pardon for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.

The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on social media. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: 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 advance economic growth and security in our hemisphere.”