Trump-Backed Contender Asfura Declared New Head of State of Honduras

Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that dragged on for almost a month and was overshadowed by fraud allegations and accusations of interference by the US president.

The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and ex-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 ballots.

The electoral council proclaimed a winner prior to finishing the examination of all tally sheets under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to recount votes marked as “irregular”. The decision was decried by unsuccessful contenders and deplored by the Organization of American States, which sent an monitoring team to the poll held on 30 November.

Asfura has already declared himself the elected president. “The nation, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [electoral council]. I acknowledge the great work carried out by the councillors and the entire team that administered 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 published a series of statements alleging fraud in the counting process, including “forgery of public documents”, claiming that “the figures from the initial count sheets were changed”.

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

The representative linked to the president’s party rejected the outcome, alleged that an “electoral coup” was under way and filed a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the outcome will be contested in court.

In its announcement, the council said: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, expressed freely at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term beginning on 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”

The declaration prior to the conclusion of the review was the latest in a string of controversies that marked the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state.

Shortly prior to the vote, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and criticized the other main contenders, calling 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 allegedly creating “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.

The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on social media. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates president-elect Asfura and anticipates working with his government to promote economic growth and safety in our hemisphere.”