Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Declared Incoming President of Honduras

Former President Trump-endorsed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the winner of Honduras’s presidential election following a vote count that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was clouded by claims of irregularities and criticism of interference by the US president.

The rightwing Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and ex-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 ballots.

The electoral council proclaimed a winner before completing the examination of all tally sheets under a “special scrutiny” launched last week to recount votes marked as “irregular”. The decision was criticised by defeated candidates and deplored by the Organization of American States, which deployed an observation mission to the election 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 acknowledge the great work undertaken by the councillors and the entire team that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am ready to govern. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.

Nasralla declined to accept defeat and posted a number of messages claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the figures from the initial count sheets were altered”.

The election board is composed of three members: one affiliated with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the progressive president, Xiomara Castro, whose candidate finished third. Asfura’s win was announced only by the first two councillors.

The member linked to the president’s party rejected the outcome, claimed that an “stolen election” was under way and lodged a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the outcome will be contested in the judiciary.

In its announcement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, expressed freely at the polls, the full council of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the four-year term beginning on 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”

The proclamation before the end of the review was the most recent in a series of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s election campaign, starting 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 won, and criticized the other main contenders, calling them communists or associates of Venezuela’s dictator, 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 cocaine superhighway to the United States”.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on a public platform. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” stated Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to the elected president Asfura and looks forward to working with his government to promote prosperity and safety in our region.”