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

Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the victor of Honduras’s presidential election following a ballot tally that extended for almost a month and was overshadowed by fraud allegations and criticism of meddling from the US president.

The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 ballots.

The electoral council declared a victor prior to finishing the review of all tally sheets under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to re-tally votes marked as “inconsistent”. The decision was criticised by defeated candidates and deplored by the OAS, which sent an monitoring team to the election held on 30 November.

Asfura has already declared himself the elected president. “Honduras, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I acknowledge 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 let you down. God bless Honduras,” he stated.

Nasralla refused to concede and posted a series of statements alleging fraud in the counting process, including “tampering with official records”, asserting that “the data from the initial count sheets were changed”.

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 candidate finished third. Asfura’s victory was announced only by the initial pair of councillors.

The representative associated with the president’s party refused to recognise the result, claimed that an “electoral coup” was under way and filed a complaint with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the result will be contested in the judiciary.

In its statement, the council said: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, expressed sovereignly at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate 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 recount was the latest in a string of disputes that marked the Central American country’s election campaign, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the US president.

Days before the election, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, said the US would back the next government only if he was victorious, and criticized the other main contenders, calling them communists or associates of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.

On the eve of the election, the American leader also announced a pardon for the former Honduran president and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on social media. “The people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to the elected president Asfura and anticipates working with his government to advance economic growth and security in our hemisphere.”