Former US President-Endorsed Candidate Asfura Proclaimed New Head of State of Honduras

Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the victor of Honduras’s presidential election after a ballot tally that dragged on for almost a month and was overshadowed by fraud allegations and criticism of interference by the American leader.

The rightwing Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 votes.

The election authority declared a victor prior to finishing the review of all vote records under a “special scrutiny” launched last week to recount votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The decision was criticised by unsuccessful contenders and deplored by the OAS, which deployed an monitoring team to the poll held on 30 November.

Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “The nation, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge the tremendous effort carried out by the members and the whole staff that administered 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 data from the original tally sheets were changed”.

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 nominee came in third place. Asfura’s victory was declared only by the first two councillors.

The representative linked to the president’s party rejected the outcome, claimed that an “stolen election” was taking place and filed a legal challenge with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the outcome will be contested in the judiciary.

In its announcement, the council said: “By the sovereign choice of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the polls, the full council of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate president of the Republic of Honduras for the four-year term starting 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”

The declaration prior to the conclusion of the review was the most recent in a series of disputes that marked the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as open interference by the American head of state.

Days before the vote, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, said the US would back the next government only if he was victorious, and criticized the other leading candidates, calling them communists or associates of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.

On the night of the election, the American leader also granted clemency for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “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 made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to president-elect Asfura and anticipates collaborating with his administration to promote prosperity and safety in our region.”