Nasry Asfura, the National Party’s candidate in Honduras and the one who was endorsed by Donald Trump, the past US president, has been announced as the winner of the country’s tight presidential race. Asfura’s victory was by a narrow margin of just one point, as he obtained 40.3% of the votes while Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party received 39.5% according to the CNE (National Electoral Council).
The vote on November 30 was marred by prolonged technical difficulties and allegations of vote rigging, resulting in around 15% of the tallying being done manually.The CNE blamed a private firm for unannounced maintenance that caused outages in real-time vote reporting. Protests erupted across Honduras as Libre party supporters alleged fraud, while outgoing President Xiomara Castro described the process as an “electoral coup” and cited Trump’s involvement as interference.
In a post on X, Asfura said: “Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down.” Nasralla rejected the result but urged calm, stating, “I am not asking you to take to the streets because that does not have any positive result.”
The election drew further attention when Trump publicly endorsed Asfura, warning of consequences if his lead was overturned and threatening to withhold US support. Trump also pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández, a former president and National Party member serving a 45-year US sentence for drug and weapons charges.
The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio asked all concerned parties to acknowledge the outcome and hence make the transition peaceful, drawing attention to the possible future collaboration in the areas of security between the two countries, control of the immigration and economic relations. At the same time, Luis Redondo who is the President of the Congress in Honduras called the result “totally illegal” and “outrageous”.
Key Highlights:
- Nasry Asfura (National Party) wins 40.3%; Salvador Nasralla 39.5%
- Election delayed due to technical failures; 15% counted manually
- Protests erupted over alleged fraud; outgoing President Castro cited interference
- Trump endorsed Asfura and pardoned former president Hernández
- US pledges cooperation with incoming administration on security, immigration, and trade
