Former US President-Endorsed Candidate Asfura Proclaimed Incoming President of the Central American Nation

Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the winner of Honduras’s presidential election following a ballot tally that dragged on for almost a month and was marred by claims of irregularities and accusations of interference by the US president.

The rightwing Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital city, Tegucigalpa, obtained 40.27% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 ballots.

The election authority proclaimed a winner before completing the review of all vote records under a “special scrutiny” launched last week to recount votes marked as “irregular”. The decision was decried by defeated candidates and deplored by the Organization of American States, which deployed an observation mission to the election held on 30 November.

Asfura has proclaimed himself as president-elect. “The nation, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I recognise the great work carried out by the members and the whole staff that administered the election. My fellow citizens: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.

Nasralla refused to concede and posted a series of statements alleging fraud in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, claiming that “the figures from the original tally 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 candidate came in third place. Asfura’s win was declared only by the first two councillors.

The member linked to the president’s party refused to recognise the result, claimed that an “electoral coup” was under way and lodged a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office, raising the prospect that the outcome will be contested in the judiciary.

In its announcement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the Honduran people, expressed freely at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate 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 latest in a series of controversies that marked 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 won, and attacked the other leading candidates, calling them communists or associates of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.

On the eve of the election, the US president also granted clemency for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura ally 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 a public platform. “The citizens of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” stated Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to the elected president Asfura and looks forward to working with his government to advance economic growth and security in our hemisphere.”