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

Former President Trump-endorsed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that dragged on for almost a month and was marred by fraud allegations and accusations of meddling from the American leader.

The rightwing Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and ex-mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 ballots.

The electoral council declared a victor before completing the review of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to recount votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The decision was decried by defeated candidates and lamented 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 [supreme electoral tribunal]. I recognise the great work carried out by the councillors and the whole staff that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he stated.

Nasralla declined to accept defeat and published a number of messages alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, asserting that “the figures from the initial count sheets were changed”.

The electoral council is composed of three councillors: 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 declared only by the first two councillors.

The member associated with the president’s party rejected the outcome, claimed that an “stolen election” was under way 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 sovereign choice of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the ballot box, the plenary session 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 proclamation before the end of the review was the latest in a series of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as open interference by the American head of state.

Shortly prior to the vote, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and attacked the other leading candidates, labeling them socialists or associates of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, 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 reportedly establishing “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.

The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on a public platform. “The citizens of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” stated Rubio. “The United States congratulates president-elect Asfura and anticipates working with his government to advance economic growth and safety in our hemisphere.”