Trump-backed candidate Asfura declared new president of Honduras | Honduras
Nasry “Tito” Asfura, the candidate supported by Donald Trump, was declared the winner of the Honduran presidential election after almost a month of vote counting that was marred by allegations of fraud and criticism of the US president’s intervention.
Right-wing Asfura (67), a former mayor and construction magnate of the capital Tegucigalpa, received 40.27% of the vote, while center-right Salvador Nasralla had 39.53%, only around 28,000 votes.
The electoral council declared the winner before completing a review of all scoreboards as part of a “special review” launched last week to recount votes marked “inconsistent”. The decision was criticized by the defeated candidates. Condemned by the Organization of American StatesIt is an organization that sent an observation mission to the election held on November 30, but the vote counts have not been resolved since then.
Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “Honduras, we now have the official statement from the CNE. [electoral council]. I recognize the fantastic work done by councilors and the entire team running the elections. Honduras: I am ready to govern. I won’t let you down. “God bless Honduras,” he said. wrote.
Nasralla refused to accept and issued a series of statements He alleged fraud in the counting process, including “forgery of public documents” and claimed that “data in the original tallies had been altered.”
Nasralla urged his supporters to remain calm and avoid any unrest or acts of violence, adding that this was “the saddest Christmas for the Honduran people.”
The president of the Honduran Congress also rejected the results. Congress leader Luis Redondo of the ruling Libre party wrote about X: “This is completely illegal. It has no value.”
The electoral council consists of three council members: one from Asfura’s party, one from Nasralla and the other from the party of leftist president Xiomara Castro, whose candidate came in third. Asfura’s victory was declared only by the first two councilors.
The fact that the representative affiliated with the President’s party refused to recognize the result, claimed that there was an “election coup” and filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office, increased the possibility that the result would be discussed in court.
“By the will of the majority of the Honduran people, expressed sovereignly at the ballot box, the full council of the CNE declared Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah the constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras for a four-year term commencing January 27, 2026 and ending January 27, 2030,” the council said in a statement.
The declaration before the end of the recount was the latest in a series of controversies that have marked the Central American country’s presidential race, starting with what many saw as open interference by the US president.
Days before the vote, Trump publicly backed Asfura, saying the United States would support the next government only if he won, and attacked other leading candidates, calling them communists or allies of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
On the eve of the election, the US president also issued an amnesty for former Honduran president and Asfura ally Juan Orlando Hernández, who was sentenced to 45 years in prison for allegedly building a “cocaine highway to the US”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio He congratulated Asfura on social media. “The Honduran people have spoken: Nasry Asfura is the next president of Honduras,” Rubio said. “The United States congratulates President-elect Asfura and looks forward to working with his administration to advance prosperity and security in our hemisphere.”
