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

Former President Trump-endorsed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the victor of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was clouded by fraud allegations and criticism of interference by the American leader.

The rightwing Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and ex-mayor of the capital, 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 electoral council proclaimed a winner before completing the review of all tally sheets under a “special scrutiny” initiated last week to recount votes marked as “inconsistent”. The move was criticised by defeated candidates and lamented by the OAS, which sent an observation mission to the election held on 30 November.

Asfura has proclaimed himself as the elected president. “The nation, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I recognise the tremendous effort carried out by the members and the entire team that ran the election. Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.

Nasralla refused to concede and published a number of messages alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, claiming that “the data from the initial count sheets were altered”.

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 progressive president, Xiomara Castro, whose candidate finished third. Asfura’s victory was declared only by the initial pair of councillors.

The representative associated with the president’s party refused to recognise the outcome, claimed that an “electoral coup” was taking place and filed a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the result will be contested in court.

In its statement, the council said: “By the majority will of the Honduran people, expressed sovereignly at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the four-year term starting 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”

The proclamation before the end of the recount 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 US president.

Shortly prior to the election, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and criticized the other main contenders, labeling them socialists 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 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 a public platform. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates president-elect Asfura and anticipates collaborating with his government to advance economic growth and safety in our hemisphere.”