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

Donald Trump-backed hopeful Nasry “Tito” Asfura was proclaimed the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a ballot tally that extended for nearly four weeks and was overshadowed by claims of irregularities and criticism of interference by the American leader.

The rightwing Asfura, 67, a building tycoon and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the moderate right Salvador Nasralla, a difference of just 28,000 votes.

The electoral council declared a victor before completing the examination of all tally sheets under a “extraordinary review” initiated last week to recount votes marked as “inconsistent”. The decision was criticised by defeated candidates and deplored by the OAS, which sent an monitoring team to the poll held on 30 November.

Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “The nation, we now have the formal proclamation from the CNE [supreme electoral tribunal]. I recognise the great work undertaken by the councillors and the entire team that administered the election. My fellow citizens: I am prepared to lead. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.

Nasralla declined to accept defeat and published a number of messages claiming manipulation in the tallying procedure, including “forgery of public documents”, asserting that “the figures from the original tally 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 came in third place. Asfura’s victory was declared only by the first two 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 legal challenge with the attorney general, raising the prospect that the result will be contested in the judiciary.

In its announcement, the council said: “By the majority will of the people of Honduras, expressed sovereignly at the polls, the plenary session of the CNE declares Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for the presidential term starting 27 January 2026 and ending on 27 January 2030.”

The proclamation before the end of the recount was the most recent in a series of disputes that marked the Central American country’s presidential race, beginning with what many saw as open interference by the American head of state.

Shortly prior to the vote, Trump openly endorsed Asfura, said the US would support the next government only if he won, and criticized the other leading candidates, calling them communists or allies of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro.

On the night of the election, the American leader also granted clemency for the ex-leader of Honduras and Asfura supporter Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced 45 years in prison for allegedly creating “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 made their choice: Nasry Asfura is Honduras’ incoming leader,” said Rubio. “The United States extends its congratulations to president-elect Asfura and looks forward to working with his administration to advance economic growth and safety in our hemisphere.”