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Nasry Asfura, a conservative businessman backed by US President Donald Trump, was declared the winner of the Honduran presidential vote on Wednesday, weeks after a razor-thin election marred by delays and allegations of fraud.
The national electoral council, CNE, said the 67-year-old son of Palestinian immigrants defeated fellow conservative TV personality Salvador Nasralla by less than one percentage point. Asfura’s victory marks the return of the right wing to power in one of Latin America’s poorest countries after four years of leftist Xiomara Castro’s presidency.
It also aligns Honduras with a rise of conservative governments in the region following shifts in Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Argentina.
“Honduras: I’m ready to govern. I won’t let you down,” Asfura posted to X after the win was declared, thanking election officials for validating his victory.
Asfura, who takes office on January 27, prevailed with just 40.1 per cent of the vote, narrowly beating Nasralla, who received 39.5 per cent, according to the official results.
Rixi Moncada, a lawyer from the leftist Libre Party, which currently governs, trailed in third with 19.2 per cent.
Within minutes of the result’s declaration, the United States welcomed Asfura’s election, saying it would help stop illegal immigration.
“We look forward to working with his incoming administration to advance our bilateral and regional security cooperation, end illegal immigration to the United States, and strengthen the economic ties between our two countries,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
Following the lengthy counting process in the Central American country’s election, Rubio called on all sides to “respect the confirmed results so that Honduran authorities may swiftly ensure a peaceful transition of authority.”
The result was announced more than three weeks after the November 30 election. The wait for the outcome has caused tensions among Hondurans, and claims of irregularities and voter fraud have accompanied the sluggish count.
Nasralla had demanded a full recount due to alleged irregularities and has not recognised Asfura’s victory. The recount of nearly 2,800 tally sheets with suspected inconsistencies was pored over by hundreds of electoral staff and political delegates to decide the race.
The CNE had until December 30 to declare a winner.
Last week, thousands of supporters of the outgoing president’s leftist Libre Party staged a demonstration in the capital, Tegucigalpa, to protest what they consider “fraud” in the vote.
On the eve of the election, Trump, in a surprise move, pardoned former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, a member of Asfura’s party who was serving a 45-year prison sentence in the United States for drug trafficking.
Extradited by Honduras to face justice in the United States, Hernandez insists he had been set up by the previous administration of US President Joe Biden because of his conservative policies.
The pardon was widely seen as contradicting Trump’s crackdown on alleged drug traffickers in Latin America.
Trump also endorsed Asfura, suggesting they could “work together to fight the narcocommunists,” and warned “there will be hell to pay” if the conservative candidate’s razor-thin lead was overturned in the count.
