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Conservative candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura, publicly supported by Donald Trump, was declared the winner of the presidential election in Honduras this Wednesday (24/12), after a controversial count that lasted more than three weeks.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) announced the result, ending a process marked by technological failures and accusations of fraud since Hondurans went to the polls on November 30.
With 40.27% of the vote, the National Party candidate narrowly beat Salvador Nasralla, of the Liberal Party, who obtained 39.39%, according to the final count. Nasralla denounced the fraud and rejected the result.
The candidate of LIBRE, the left-wing government party, Rixi Moncada, came in third place with 19.19% of the vote, a result interpreted as a major setback for the government of Xiomara Castro.
Celebration against fraud charges
After the publication of the official results, Asfura published a message on social networks in which he declared himself ready to govern and promised not to disappoint citizens. Within his campaign committee, supporters cheered the announcement, while protests from opposition groups could still be heard.
Nasry Asfura, former mayor of Tegucigalpa, won the presidency in his second attempt, after a campaign in which he presented himself as a pragmatic administrator, supported by several infrastructure projects developed during his mandate.
“I recognize the excellent work done by the advisors and the entire team that organized the elections. Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not disappoint you. God bless Honduras!” declared the winner on social networks. Nasralla, in turn, rejected the result and reiterated the accusations of fraud he had made in recent weeks.
“The money from the National Party violates the will of 8 million Hondurans,” he denounced on Channel X.
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The defeated candidate denounced irregularities in the counting of “10,000 ballot boxes, the equivalent of 2 million votes” and wondered if the observation missions of the European Union and the Organization of American States (OAS) “had not noted this fraud”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated Asfura after declaring victory.
“The Honduran people have spoken: Nasry Asfura is the next President of Honduras. The United States congratulates President-elect @titoasfura @papialaordenh and looks forward to working with his administration to promote prosperity and security in our hemisphere,” Rubio tweeted.
President Trump expressed support for Asfura days before the election, saying he was the only Honduran candidate his government would be willing to work with.
His main rivals interpreted the move as a form of foreign interference that influenced a highly controversial process. The elections in Honduras reinforce the recent trend of a rightward shift in Latin America, just a week after the election of conservative José Antonio Kast in Chile.
In Honduras, tensions were heightened by the slow vote count, which reached a stalemate after a last-minute special recount was called, keeping the country in suspense for weeks and intensifying accusations of manipulation.
Faced with this impasse, the OAS Secretary General launched an urgent appeal to the authorities to finalize the process before December 30.
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