🔗 Share this article Trump-Backed Candidate Asfura Declared New Head of State of Honduras Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the winner of Honduras’s race for the presidency following a vote count that extended for almost a month and was overshadowed by claims of irregularities and accusations of interference by the US president. The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and ex-mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 ballots. The electoral council declared a victor before completing the examination of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to re-tally votes marked as “irregular”. The move was criticised by unsuccessful contenders and lamented by the Organization of American States, which sent an monitoring team to the election held on 30 November. Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “The nation, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge the great work carried out by the councillors and the entire team that administered the election. My fellow citizens: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he wrote. Nasralla refused to concede 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 made up of three councillors: one aligned with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the progressive president, Xiomara Castro, whose nominee came in third place. Asfura’s win was announced only by the first two councillors. The representative linked to the president’s party refused to recognise the result, alleged that an “electoral coup” was under way and filed a complaint 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 Honduran people, expressed sovereignly at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate 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 string of disputes that characterized the Central American country’s election campaign, starting with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state. Days before the election, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he won, and criticized the other leading candidates, calling them communists or allies of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro. On the eve of the election, the American leader also granted clemency for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on a public platform. “The people of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to president-elect Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his government to advance economic growth and security in our region.”
Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the winner of Honduras’s race for the presidency following a vote count that extended for almost a month and was overshadowed by claims of irregularities and accusations of interference by the US president. The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and ex-mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 ballots. The electoral council declared a victor before completing the examination of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to re-tally votes marked as “irregular”. The move was criticised by unsuccessful contenders and lamented by the Organization of American States, which sent an monitoring team to the election held on 30 November. Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “The nation, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge the great work carried out by the councillors and the entire team that administered the election. My fellow citizens: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he wrote. Nasralla refused to concede 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 made up of three councillors: one aligned with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the progressive president, Xiomara Castro, whose nominee came in third place. Asfura’s win was announced only by the first two councillors. The representative linked to the president’s party refused to recognise the result, alleged that an “electoral coup” was under way and filed a complaint 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 Honduran people, expressed sovereignly at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate 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 string of disputes that characterized the Central American country’s election campaign, starting with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state. Days before the election, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he won, and criticized the other leading candidates, calling them communists or allies of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro. On the eve of the election, the American leader also granted clemency for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on a public platform. “The people of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to president-elect Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his government to advance economic growth and security in our region.”