Trump-backed Nasry Asfura wins Honduras presidential election after 3-week political limbo

Tegucigalpa, Honduras: Trump-backed conservative Nasry Asfura has won Honduras’s presidential election, electoral authorities announced on Wednesday, bringing to an end a weeks-long vote count that has raised serious questions about the credibility of the country’s fragile electoral system.

Asfura, a former mayor of the capital Tegucigalpa and candidate of the conservative National Party, secured 40.27 per cent of the vote in the November 30 poll. He narrowly defeated Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party, a four-time presidential contender, who finished with 39.53 per cent.

The prolonged and contentious counting process kept the Central American nation in political limbo for more than three weeks and fuelled domestic and international concern. At several points the count stalled, including during a special review of final tallies, prompting warnings from foreign governments and observers.

The election result continues a broader political shift to the right across Latin America, coming just a week after Chile elected far-right politician José Antonio Kast as its next president.

Celebrations broke out at Asfura’s campaign headquarters on Tuesday night as indications of his victory emerged, even as rival candidates and some electoral officials challenged the process. Shortly after the official announcement, Asfura wrote on X, “Honduras: I am prepared to govern. I will not fail you.”

The outcome represents a clear setback for the governing left-wing Liberty and Re-foundation Party (LIBRE), led by President Xiomara Castro. The party’s candidate finished a distant third with 19.19 per cent of the vote, marking a sharp reversal for a movement elected in 2021 on promises to tackle corruption and reduce violence.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated Asfura, saying Washington looked forward to working with his administration “to advance prosperity and security in our hemisphere”.

Congratulations also came from the European Union and several right-leaning leaders in the region, including Argentina’s President Javier Milei, a close ally of former US president Donald Trump.

Trump endorsed the 67-year-old Asfura just days before the vote, calling him the only Honduran candidate with whom his administration would work. Asfura campaigned as a pragmatic leader, highlighting infrastructure projects carried out during his tenure as mayor.

Nasralla rejected the outcome, alleging fraud and accusing electoral authorities of betraying voters. In a post on X, he said the officials who announced the results had “silenced the votes of our citizens”. He also addressed Trump directly, questioning why a full recount had not been allowed if Asfura had “nothing to fear”.

Opposition figures have argued that Trump’s late endorsement amounted to electoral interference and may have influenced the narrow result. The slow pace of the count further deepened mistrust, with critics pointing to inconsistencies and delays.

The Organization of American States said on Wednesday that it was closely monitoring developments and took note of the announced results, while criticising the decision to declare a winner before the final 0.07 per cent of votes had been counted in such a close race.

President Castro said last week she would accept the outcome despite earlier accusing Trump of staging an “electoral coup”. International observers, however, said the scale of LIBRE’s defeat left little room to challenge the result.

Eric Olson, an independent observer with the Seattle International Foundation, said even within the governing party there was little belief it had won. “Very few people, even within LIBRE, believe they won the election. What they will say is there’s been fraud, that there has been intervention by Donald Trump, that we we should tear up the elections and vote again,” he said, “But they’re not saying ‘we won the elections.’ It’s pretty clear they did not.”

AP