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

Former President Trump-endorsed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the victor of Honduras’s race for the presidency after a ballot tally that extended for almost a month and was marred 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, obtained 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes.

The electoral council declared a victor before completing 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 deplored by the OAS, which deployed an monitoring team to the poll held on 30 November.

Asfura has proclaimed himself as the elected president. “The nation, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I recognise the tremendous effort carried out by the members and the entire team that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am prepared to lead. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.

Nasralla declined to accept defeat and posted a number of messages claiming manipulation in the counting process, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the data from the original tally sheets were changed”.

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 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 refused to recognise the result, claimed that an “stolen election” was taking place and filed a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the outcome will be challenged in court.

In its statement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, expressed freely at the ballot box, the plenary session of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term starting 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”

The declaration before the end of the recount was the most recent in a string of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as open interference by the US president.

Days before the election, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated the US would back the next government only if he was victorious, and attacked the other main contenders, calling them communists or allies 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 reportedly creating “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on social media. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” stated Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and anticipates collaborating with his government to advance economic growth and security in our region.”