Trump-Backed Candidate Asfura Declared Incoming President of the Central American Nation

Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the winner of Honduras’s race for the presidency after a vote count that extended for nearly four weeks and was clouded by fraud allegations and criticism of interference by the US president.

The conservative Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and ex-mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 ballots.

The election authority declared a victor before completing the review of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to recount votes flagged as “irregular”. The move was criticised 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 president-elect. “The nation, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I recognise the tremendous effort carried out by the councillors and the whole staff that administered the election. Honduras: I am prepared to lead. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.

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 altered”.

The electoral council is composed of three members: one aligned with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the progressive president, Xiomara Castro, whose candidate finished third. Asfura’s victory was announced only by the first two councillors.

The representative associated with the president’s party rejected the result, alleged that an “stolen election” was taking place and lodged a legal challenge with the attorney general, opening the possibility that the result will be challenged in the judiciary.

In its statement, the council said: “By the majority will of the Honduran people, 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 proclamation before the end of the review was the most recent in a series of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as open interference by the US president.

Days before the vote, Trump publicly backed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and attacked the other leading candidates, calling them socialists or associates of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, 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 establishing “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’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to the elected president Asfura and anticipates collaborating with his administration to promote economic growth and safety in our hemisphere.”