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

Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the winner of Honduras’s race for the presidency after a vote count that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was clouded by fraud allegations and accusations of meddling from the American leader.

The conservative Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 votes.

The electoral council proclaimed a winner before completing the review of all tally sheets under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to recount votes flagged as “irregular”. The move was criticised by defeated candidates and lamented by the Organization of American States, which deployed an observation mission to the poll 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 acknowledge the tremendous effort carried out by the councillors and the whole staff that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am prepared to lead. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he stated.

Nasralla declined to accept defeat and posted a series of statements claiming manipulation in the counting process, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the data 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 leftist president, Xiomara Castro, whose nominee came in third place. Asfura’s win was declared only by the first two councillors.

The representative linked to the president’s party refused to recognise the result, alleged that an “electoral coup” was taking place and filed a legal challenge with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the result will be challenged in court.

In its announcement, the council said: “By the sovereign choice of the people of Honduras, expressed sovereignly 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 declaration before the end of the recount was the most recent in a string 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, stated the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and attacked the other main contenders, labeling them socialists or allies of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.

On the eve of the election, the US president also granted clemency for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for reportedly creating “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on social media. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates president-elect Asfura and anticipates collaborating with his administration to advance prosperity and safety in our hemisphere.”