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

Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the victor of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that extended for nearly four weeks and was clouded by fraud allegations and accusations of interference by the US president.

The conservative 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 margin of just 28,000 ballots.

The election authority proclaimed a winner before completing the examination of all vote records under a “special scrutiny” initiated last week to re-tally votes flagged as “irregular”. The decision was decried by unsuccessful contenders and deplored by the Organization of American States, which deployed an observation mission to the election held on 30 November.

Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “Honduras, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [electoral council]. I recognise the tremendous effort undertaken by the councillors and the whole staff that administered the election. My fellow citizens: I am prepared to lead. I will not fail you. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.

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 data from the initial count sheets were altered”.

The election board is made up of three councillors: one aligned 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 initial pair of councillors.

The representative associated with the president’s party refused to recognise the outcome, claimed that an “electoral coup” was taking place and filed a complaint with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the result will be challenged in the judiciary.

In its announcement, the council declared: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, expressed freely at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE proclaims Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah legitimate president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term beginning on 27 January 2026 and concluding on 27 January 2030.”

The declaration prior to the conclusion of the recount was the latest in a series of controversies that characterized the Central American country’s election campaign, starting with what many saw as blatant meddling by the US president.

Days before the vote, Trump publicly backed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he won, and criticized the other main contenders, labeling them communists or associates of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.

On the eve of the election, the US president also granted clemency for the former Honduran president and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been given 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “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 made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ next president,” said Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to the elected president Asfura and looks forward to collaborating with his government to promote economic growth and security in our hemisphere.”