Former US President-Endorsed Candidate Asfura Declared Incoming President of Honduras

Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a ballot tally that dragged on for almost a month and was marred by fraud allegations and criticism of interference by the US president.

The conservative Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and former mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 ballots.

The electoral council declared a victor before completing the review of all tally sheets under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to re-tally votes marked as “inconsistent”. The decision was decried by unsuccessful contenders and deplored by the Organization of American States, which deployed an observation mission to the election held on 30 November.

Asfura has already declared himself the elected president. “Honduras, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [electoral council]. I recognise the great work carried out by the councillors and the whole staff that ran the election. Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.

Nasralla declined to accept defeat and published a series of statements claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the data from the initial count sheets were altered”.

The election board is composed of three councillors: 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 member linked to the president’s party refused to recognise the result, claimed that an “stolen election” was under way and filed a legal challenge with the attorney general, opening the possibility that the result will be challenged in court.

In its announcement, the council declared: “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 proclamation before the end of the recount was the most recent in a string of disputes that marked the Central American country’s election campaign, starting with what many saw as open interference by the American head of state.

Shortly prior to the election, Trump publicly backed Asfura, stated the US would back the next government only if he was victorious, and criticized the other main contenders, labeling them communists or allies of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.

On the night of the election, the American leader also announced a pardon for the former Honduran president and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for reportedly establishing “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.

The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on social media. “The people of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” stated Rubio. “The United States congratulates president-elect Asfura and anticipates working with his government to promote prosperity and safety in our region.”