Trump-Backed Candidate Asfura Declared Incoming President 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 vote count that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was overshadowed by fraud allegations and criticism of interference by the US president.

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

The election authority proclaimed a winner before completing the examination of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to re-tally votes marked as “inconsistent”. The move was decried by unsuccessful contenders and lamented by the Organization of American States, which sent 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 recognise the tremendous effort 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 stated.

Nasralla declined to accept defeat and posted a series of statements alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the data from the original tally sheets were altered”.

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 candidate finished third. Asfura’s win was announced only by the first two councillors.

The representative associated with the president’s party refused to recognise the outcome, alleged that an “electoral coup” was under way and filed a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the result will be challenged in the judiciary.

In its statement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, 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 declaration before the end of the review was the latest in a series of controversies that marked the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state.

Shortly prior to the vote, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated the US would back the next government only if he was victorious, and attacked the other main contenders, calling them communists or allies of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.

On the eve of the election, the US president also announced a pardon for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for reportedly establishing “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on a public platform. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” stated Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to the elected president Asfura and looks forward to working with his administration to advance prosperity and security in our hemisphere.”