Nasry Asfura has been declared the winner of Honduras’s presidential election following a period of delays, technical issues, and fraud allegations. The announcement comes weeks after the initial vote.
According to the National Electoral Council (CNE), the conservative National Party candidate, who garnered the support of former US President Donald Trump, secured 40.3% of the vote. This narrow victory places him ahead of Salvador Nasralla of the center-right Liberal Party, who received 39.5%.
In a statement posted on X, Asfura affirmed, “Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has urged all parties to respect the election outcome, emphasizing the importance of “a peaceful transition of authority” facilitated by Honduran authorities.
However, Luis Redondo, the president of the country’s Congress, has publicly denounced the result as “completely illegal” via social media.
The election was held on November 30, but the vote count experienced two postponements attributed to technical outages, which electoral officials have described as “inexcusable.”
Ana Paola Hall, president of the CNE, has pointed to the private company responsible for tabulating the results as the cause of the delay.
Hall stated that the firm conducted maintenance without prior warning or consultation with the CNE.
This interruption occurred a day after the real-time results portal experienced a system crash.
Given the close results and the processing system’s instability, approximately 15% of the tally sheets required manual counting to determine the election’s outcome.
The delays have triggered tensions within Honduras, with protests erupting across the nation in the past week.
Thousands of supporters affiliated with the governing Libre party demonstrated in the capital, Tegucigalpa, alleging electoral fraud.
Outgoing President Xiomara Castro had previously asserted the existence of an “electoral coup” and cited “interference” from Trump as detrimental to the election’s integrity.
During his endorsement of Asfura, Trump warned of severe consequences should Asfura’s narrow lead be overturned during the vote count.
He also threatened to withdraw financial support from the US if Asfura did not emerge victorious.
In a notable move, the former US president also pardoned Juan Orlando Hernandez, a member of Asfura’s National Party, who was serving a 45-year prison sentence in the US related to drug and weapons charges.
Xiomara Castro was constitutionally barred from seeking a second term.
Nine days post-election, Nasralla accused “corrupt individuals” of manipulating the vote count within the Central American nation, also stating that Trump’s remarks negatively impacted his chances of winning.
In his statement following the result announcement, Rubio conveyed that the US anticipates “working with his incoming administration to advance our bilateral and regional security co-operation,” further stating the commitment of both nations to “end illegal immigration to the United States” while reinforcing economic ties.