Trump-Backed Candidate Asfura Proclaimed Incoming Head of State of the Central American Nation

Former President Trump-endorsed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the victor of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that extended for almost a month and was overshadowed by fraud allegations and accusations 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 moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 votes.

The electoral council proclaimed a winner before completing the examination of all vote records under a “special scrutiny” launched last week to recount votes marked as “irregular”. The decision was decried by defeated candidates and deplored by the Organization of American States, which deployed an observation mission to the poll held on 30 November.

Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “Honduras, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [electoral council]. I acknowledge the tremendous effort undertaken by the councillors and the whole staff that ran the election. Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.

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

The electoral council is made up 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 candidate came in third place. Asfura’s win was announced only by the first two councillors.

The representative associated with the president’s party refused to recognise the result, claimed that an “stolen election” was under way and lodged a complaint with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the result will be contested in the judiciary.

In its announcement, 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 legitimate president of the Republic of Honduras for the four-year term starting 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 disputes that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as open interference by the US president.

Shortly prior to the vote, Trump publicly backed Asfura, said the US would back the next government only if he was victorious, and criticized the other main contenders, calling them socialists or associates of Venezuela’s dictator, 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 reportedly establishing “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on social media. “The people of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” stated Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and anticipates working with his government to promote economic growth and security in our region.”