Trump-Backed Candidate Asfura Declared Incoming Head of State of Honduras

Former President Trump-endorsed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the victor of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that dragged on for nearly four weeks and was marred by fraud allegations and accusations of meddling from the American leader.

The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and ex-mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes.

The electoral council proclaimed a winner prior to finishing the review of all vote records under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to re-tally votes marked as “inconsistent”. The decision was criticised by defeated candidates and lamented 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 acknowledge the great work undertaken by the members and the entire team that ran the election. Honduras: I am prepared to lead. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he stated.

Nasralla declined to accept defeat and published a number of messages alleging fraud in the counting process, including “forgery of public documents”, claiming that “the figures from the initial count sheets were altered”.

The electoral council is composed of three councillors: 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 win was declared only by the initial pair of councillors.

The representative linked to the president’s party refused to recognise the result, 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 contested in court.

In its announcement, the council said: “By the sovereign choice of the Honduran people, expressed sovereignly at the polls, the full council of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the four-year term beginning on 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”

The declaration prior to the conclusion of the review was the most recent in a series of controversies that marked the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as blatant meddling by the US president.

Days before the election, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he won, and criticized the other leading candidates, labeling them socialists or allies of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.

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

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on a public platform. “The people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States congratulates president-elect Asfura and anticipates collaborating with his government to advance prosperity and security in our hemisphere.”