🔗 Share this article Trump-Backed Candidate Asfura Declared New Head of State of the Central American Nation Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that extended for nearly four weeks and was overshadowed by fraud allegations and accusations of interference by the American leader. The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes. The electoral council proclaimed a winner before completing the review of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to recount votes marked as “irregular”. The move was criticised by defeated candidates and lamented by the Organization of American States, which deployed an monitoring team to the election held on 30 November. Asfura has proclaimed himself as president-elect. “The nation, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [electoral council]. I recognise the tremendous effort carried out by the councillors 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 tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, claiming that “the data from the initial count sheets were changed”. The electoral council is composed of three councillors: one affiliated 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 victory was declared only by the first two councillors. The member associated with the president’s party rejected the outcome, claimed that an “electoral coup” was under way and filed a legal challenge with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the result will be challenged in the judiciary. In its statement, the council declared: “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 legitimate president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term beginning on 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.” The proclamation prior to the conclusion of the review was the latest in a string of disputes that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state. Days before the election, Trump publicly backed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and criticized the other leading candidates, calling them socialists or allies of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro. On the eve of the election, the US president also announced a pardon for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”. The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on a public platform. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and anticipates working with his administration to advance economic growth and security in our region.”
Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that extended for nearly four weeks and was overshadowed by fraud allegations and accusations of interference by the American leader. The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes. The electoral council proclaimed a winner before completing the review of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to recount votes marked as “irregular”. The move was criticised by defeated candidates and lamented by the Organization of American States, which deployed an monitoring team to the election held on 30 November. Asfura has proclaimed himself as president-elect. “The nation, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [electoral council]. I recognise the tremendous effort carried out by the councillors 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 tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, claiming that “the data from the initial count sheets were changed”. The electoral council is composed of three councillors: one affiliated 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 victory was declared only by the first two councillors. The member associated with the president’s party rejected the outcome, claimed that an “electoral coup” was under way and filed a legal challenge with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the result will be challenged in the judiciary. In its statement, the council declared: “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 legitimate president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term beginning on 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.” The proclamation prior to the conclusion of the review was the latest in a string of disputes that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state. Days before the election, Trump publicly backed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and criticized the other leading candidates, calling them socialists or allies of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro. On the eve of the election, the US president also announced a pardon for the former Honduran president and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”. The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on a public platform. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and anticipates working with his administration to advance economic growth and security in our region.”