Former US President-Endorsed Contender Asfura Proclaimed New Head of State of the Central American Nation

Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the victor of Honduras’s presidential election after a ballot tally that dragged on for almost a month and was marred by claims of irregularities and criticism of meddling from the US president.

The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and former mayor of the capital city, 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 examination of all tally sheets under a “special scrutiny” initiated last week to re-tally votes marked as “irregular”. The move was decried by defeated candidates and deplored by the OAS, which deployed an monitoring team to the election held on 30 November.

Asfura has proclaimed himself as the elected president. “Honduras, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [electoral council]. I acknowledge the tremendous effort carried out by the councillors 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 posted a number of messages claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “tampering with official records”, claiming that “the figures from the initial count sheets were altered”.

The election board is composed 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 victory was announced only by the initial pair of councillors.

The member associated with the president’s party rejected the outcome, claimed that an “electoral coup” was under way and lodged a legal challenge with the public prosecutor’s office, opening the possibility that the outcome will be challenged in court.

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

The proclamation prior to the conclusion of the review was the most recent in a string of disputes that characterized the Central American country’s election campaign, beginning with what many saw as open interference by the American head of state.

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

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

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, offered congratulations to Asfura on social media. “The citizens of Honduras have made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to the elected president Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his government to advance economic growth and security in our region.”