Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Declared Incoming President of the Central American Nation

Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a ballot tally that dragged on for almost a month and was clouded by fraud allegations and criticism of meddling from the US president.

The conservative Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and ex-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 election authority declared a victor before completing the examination of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” launched last week to recount votes marked as “inconsistent”. The move was criticised by defeated candidates and deplored by the OAS, which deployed 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 [electoral council]. I recognise the great work undertaken by the councillors and the whole staff that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am prepared to lead. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.

Nasralla refused to concede and published a number of messages alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, claiming that “the data from the initial count sheets were altered”.

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 progressive president, Xiomara Castro, whose nominee came in third place. Asfura’s win was announced only by the initial pair of councillors.

The member associated with the president’s party refused to recognise the outcome, claimed that an “electoral coup” was under way and filed 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 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 declaration before the end of the review was the most recent in a series of controversies that marked the Central American country’s election campaign, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the US president.

Shortly prior to the election, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, stated the US would support the next government only if he was victorious, and attacked the other main contenders, labeling them communists or allies 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 supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 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 people of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” stated Rubio. “The United States congratulates the elected president Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his administration to advance prosperity and safety in our hemisphere.”