Trump-Backed Candidate Asfura Declared New Head of State of Honduras

Former President Trump-endorsed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed 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 rightwing 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 margin of just 28,000 ballots.

The election authority proclaimed a winner before completing the review of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to recount votes marked as “inconsistent”. The decision was decried by defeated candidates and deplored by the Organization of American States, which sent an monitoring team to the election held on 30 November.

Asfura has proclaimed himself as the elected president. “The nation, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge the great work undertaken by the members and the whole staff that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am prepared to lead. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he stated.

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

The electoral council is made up 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 victory was announced only by the initial pair of councillors.

The member associated with the president’s party refused to recognise the outcome, alleged that an “stolen election” was under way and lodged a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the result will be contested in court.

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

The proclamation prior to the conclusion of the recount was the most recent in a series of disputes that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as open interference 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 criticized the other main contenders, labeling them socialists or associates of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.

On the night 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 allegedly creating “a cocaine superhighway 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,” said Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to the elected president Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his government to advance economic growth and safety in our hemisphere.”