🔗 Share this article Trump-Backed Candidate Asfura Proclaimed Incoming President of Honduras Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the victor of Honduras’s race for the presidency following a vote count that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was clouded by fraud allegations and accusations of meddling from the American leader. The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes. The electoral council declared a victor before completing the review of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to recount votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The decision was decried by unsuccessful contenders and deplored by the OAS, which deployed an observation mission to the election 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 members and the entire team that administered 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 alleging fraud in the counting process, including “tampering with official records”, asserting that “the figures from the initial count sheets were altered”. The election board is composed of three councillors: one aligned 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 win was announced only by the initial pair of councillors. The representative linked to the president’s party refused to recognise the result, claimed that an “stolen election” was under way and filed a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office, opening the possibility that the outcome will be contested in the judiciary. In its statement, the council declared: “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 beginning on 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.” The proclamation prior to the conclusion of the recount was the latest in a string of disputes that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as blatant meddling by the US president. Days before the vote, Trump publicly backed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he won, and attacked the other leading candidates, calling them communists or allies of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro. On the eve of the election, the US president also granted clemency for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”. The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on a public platform. “The people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” stated Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to president-elect Asfura and anticipates working with his administration to advance economic growth and safety in our hemisphere.”
Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the victor of Honduras’s race for the presidency following a vote count that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was clouded by fraud allegations and accusations of meddling from the American leader. The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes. The electoral council declared a victor before completing the review of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to recount votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The decision was decried by unsuccessful contenders and deplored by the OAS, which deployed an observation mission to the election 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 members and the entire team that administered 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 alleging fraud in the counting process, including “tampering with official records”, asserting that “the figures from the initial count sheets were altered”. The election board is composed of three councillors: one aligned 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 win was announced only by the initial pair of councillors. The representative linked to the president’s party refused to recognise the result, claimed that an “stolen election” was under way and filed a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office, opening the possibility that the outcome will be contested in the judiciary. In its statement, the council declared: “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 beginning on 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.” The proclamation prior to the conclusion of the recount was the latest in a string of disputes that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as blatant meddling by the US president. Days before the vote, Trump publicly backed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he won, and attacked the other leading candidates, calling them communists or allies of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro. On the eve of the election, the US president also granted clemency for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”. The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on a public platform. “The people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” stated Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to president-elect Asfura and anticipates working with his administration to advance economic growth and safety in our hemisphere.”