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

Former President Trump-endorsed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura was announced as the victor of Honduras’s presidential election following a ballot tally that extended for almost a month and was marred by claims of irregularities and accusations of interference by the American leader.

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

The election authority declared a victor before completing the examination of all vote records under a “special scrutiny” initiated last week to recount votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The decision was criticised by defeated candidates and lamented by the Organization of American States, which sent an monitoring team to the election 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 acknowledge the tremendous effort undertaken by the members and the whole staff that ran the election. My fellow citizens: I am prepared to lead. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.

Nasralla refused to concede and published a series of statements alleging fraud in the counting process, including “forgery of public documents”, claiming 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 victory 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 taking place and lodged a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the result will be challenged in court.

In its statement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, 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 proclamation before the end of the review was the most recent in a series of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s election campaign, beginning with what many saw as blatant meddling by the American head of state.

Days before the election, Trump publicly backed Asfura, said the US would back the next government only if he won, and criticized the other main contenders, calling them communists or allies of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.

On the eve of the election, the American leader also granted clemency for the former Honduran president and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for allegedly establishing “a major drug trafficking route to the United States”.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, congratulated Asfura on social media. “The people 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 working with his administration to promote prosperity and security in our region.”