🔗 Share this article Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Declared Incoming President of the Central American Nation Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the winner of Honduras’s presidential election following a ballot tally that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was marred by fraud allegations and accusations of interference by the US president. The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 ballots. The electoral council declared a victor prior to finishing the review of all vote records under a “special scrutiny” launched last week to recount votes marked as “inconsistent”. The decision was decried by defeated candidates and lamented by the OAS, which sent an monitoring team to the poll held on 30 November. Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “Honduras, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge the tremendous effort undertaken by the councillors and the whole staff that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he wrote. Nasralla declined to accept defeat and posted a series of statements alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the figures from the original tally sheets were altered”. The election board is composed of three members: 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 member linked to the president’s party rejected the result, alleged that an “stolen election” was under way and lodged a complaint with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the outcome will be challenged in court. In its announcement, the council said: “By the sovereign choice of the people of Honduras, expressed freely at the polls, the plenary session of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional 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 disputes that marked the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as open interference by the American head of state. Shortly prior to the election, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, said the US would back the next government only if he won, and attacked the other main contenders, labeling them communists or allies of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro. On the eve of the election, the US president also announced a pardon for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for reportedly establishing “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”. The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on a public platform. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and looks forward to working with his government to advance economic growth and safety in our region.”
Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the winner of Honduras’s presidential election following a ballot tally that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was marred by fraud allegations and accusations of interference by the US president. The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 ballots. The electoral council declared a victor prior to finishing the review of all vote records under a “special scrutiny” launched last week to recount votes marked as “inconsistent”. The decision was decried by defeated candidates and lamented by the OAS, which sent an monitoring team to the poll held on 30 November. Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “Honduras, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge the tremendous effort undertaken by the councillors and the whole staff that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he wrote. Nasralla declined to accept defeat and posted a series of statements alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the figures from the original tally sheets were altered”. The election board is composed of three members: 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 member linked to the president’s party rejected the result, alleged that an “stolen election” was under way and lodged a complaint with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the outcome will be challenged in court. In its announcement, the council said: “By the sovereign choice of the people of Honduras, expressed freely at the polls, the plenary session of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional 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 disputes that marked the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as open interference by the American head of state. Shortly prior to the election, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, said the US would back the next government only if he won, and attacked the other main contenders, labeling them communists or allies of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro. On the eve of the election, the US president also announced a pardon for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for reportedly establishing “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”. The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on a public platform. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and looks forward to working with his government to advance economic growth and safety in our region.”