🔗 Share this article Trump-Backed Candidate Asfura Declared New President of the Central American Nation Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that extended for nearly four weeks and was clouded 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 margin of just 28,000 ballots. The election authority proclaimed a winner before completing the examination of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to recount votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The move was criticised by unsuccessful contenders and lamented by the Organization of American States, which deployed an monitoring team to the election held on 30 November. Asfura has proclaimed himself as president-elect. “The nation, we now have the official declaration 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 let you down. God bless Honduras,” he stated. Nasralla refused to concede and published a number of messages claiming manipulation in the counting process, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the data from the initial count sheets were changed”. The election board is made up of three members: one aligned with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the leftist president, Xiomara Castro, whose nominee finished third. Asfura’s win was declared only by the initial pair of councillors. The representative associated with the president’s party rejected the result, alleged that an “stolen election” was under way and filed a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, opening the possibility that the outcome will be challenged in the judiciary. In its announcement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term beginning on 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.” The declaration before the end of the review was the latest in a string of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as blatant meddling by the US president. Days before the election, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, said the US would back the next government only if he won, and criticized the other leading candidates, labeling them socialists or associates of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro. On the eve of the election, the American leader also announced a pardon for the former Honduran president and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for allegedly establishing “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on social media. “The people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and anticipates collaborating with his government to promote economic growth and security in our hemisphere.”
Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that extended for nearly four weeks and was clouded 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 margin of just 28,000 ballots. The election authority proclaimed a winner before completing the examination of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to recount votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The move was criticised by unsuccessful contenders and lamented by the Organization of American States, which deployed an monitoring team to the election held on 30 November. Asfura has proclaimed himself as president-elect. “The nation, we now have the official declaration 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 let you down. God bless Honduras,” he stated. Nasralla refused to concede and published a number of messages claiming manipulation in the counting process, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the data from the initial count sheets were changed”. The election board is made up of three members: one aligned with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the leftist president, Xiomara Castro, whose nominee finished third. Asfura’s win was declared only by the initial pair of councillors. The representative associated with the president’s party rejected the result, alleged that an “stolen election” was under way and filed a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, opening the possibility that the outcome will be challenged in the judiciary. In its announcement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term beginning on 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.” The declaration before the end of the review was the latest in a string of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as blatant meddling by the US president. Days before the election, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, said the US would back the next government only if he won, and criticized the other leading candidates, labeling them socialists or associates of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro. On the eve of the election, the American leader also announced a pardon for the former Honduran president and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for allegedly establishing “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on social media. “The people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and anticipates collaborating with his government to promote economic growth and security in our hemisphere.”