Former US President-Endorsed Candidate Asfura Proclaimed New Head of State of the Central American Nation

Former President Trump-endorsed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the winner of Honduras’s race for the presidency following a ballot tally that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was marred by claims of irregularities and accusations of interference by the American leader.

The conservative Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and former mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 ballots.

The election authority declared a victor prior to finishing the examination of all tally sheets under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to re-tally votes marked as “irregular”. The decision was decried by unsuccessful contenders and lamented by the Organization of American States, which deployed an observation mission to the election held on 30 November.

Asfura has already declared himself the elected president. “Honduras, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [electoral council]. I recognise the tremendous effort undertaken by the councillors and the whole staff that ran the election. Honduras: I am ready to govern. 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 tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, asserting that “the data from the original tally sheets were altered”.

The electoral council is composed of three members: 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 win was declared only by the first two councillors.

The member linked to the president’s party rejected the result, claimed that an “electoral coup” was under way and filed a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, opening the possibility that the result will be contested in court.

In its announcement, the council declared: “By the sovereign choice of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the polls, the full council of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term starting 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”

The proclamation before the end of the review was the most recent in a series of controversies that marked the Central American country’s election campaign, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state.

Days before the election, Trump publicly backed 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 US president also granted clemency for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for reportedly creating “a major drug trafficking route 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 congratulates president-elect Asfura and anticipates working with his administration to promote prosperity and safety in our region.”