Trump-Backed Candidate Asfura Proclaimed Incoming Head of State of the Central American Nation

Former President Trump-endorsed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the victor of Honduras’s presidential election after a ballot tally that extended for almost a month and was overshadowed by claims of irregularities and accusations of meddling from the US president.

The conservative Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and ex-mayor of the capital, 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 electoral council proclaimed a winner before completing the examination of all tally sheets under a “special scrutiny” launched last week to recount votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The move was criticised by defeated candidates and lamented by the OAS, which sent an monitoring team to the election held on 30 November.

Asfura has already declared himself the elected president. “The nation, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [electoral council]. I recognise the great work undertaken by the members 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 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 made up of three members: one affiliated with Asfura’s party, one with Nasralla’s, and one with the party of the leftist president, Xiomara Castro, whose nominee finished third. Asfura’s win was announced only by the first two councillors.

The representative associated with the president’s party refused to recognise the result, claimed that an “stolen election” was taking place and lodged a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the result will be contested in the judiciary.

In its statement, the council said: “By the majority will of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the four-year term starting 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”

The declaration before the end of the recount was the latest in a series of disputes that characterized the Central American country’s election campaign, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state.

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

On the eve of the election, the US president also announced a pardon for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for allegedly establishing “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.

The American top diplomat, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on social media. “The citizens of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” stated Rubio. “The United States congratulates president-elect Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his administration to advance economic growth and security in our hemisphere.”