Trump-backed candidate Nasry Asfura declared winner of Honduras' presidential vote

Trump-backed candidate Nasry Asfura declared winner of Honduras' presidential vote Presidential candidate Nasry Asfura, of the National Party, gives a press conference in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. Moises Castillo/AP hide caption toggle caption TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Trump-backed candidate Nasry Asfura won Honduras' presidential election, electoral authorities said Wednesday afternoon, ending a weeks-long count that has whittled away at the credibility of the Central American nation's fragile electoral system. The election is continuing Latin America's swing to the right, coming just a week after Chile chose the far-right politician José Antonio Kast as its next president. Asfura, of the conservative National Party received 40.27% of the vote in the Nov. 30, edging out four-time candidate Salvador Nasralla of the conservative Liberal Party, who finished with 39.53% of the vote. Honduras' president-elect The former mayor of Honduras' capital Tegucigalpa, won in his second bid for the presidency, after he and Nasralla were neck-and-neck during a weeks-long vote count that fueled international concern. On Tuesday night a number of electoral officials and candidates were already fighting and contesting the results of the election. Meanwhile, followers in Asfura's campaign headquarters erupted into cheers. "Honduras: I am prepared to govern," wrote Asfura in a post on X shortly after the results were released. "I will not let you down." The results were a rebuke of the current leftist leader, and her governing democratic socialist Liberty and Re-foundation Party, known as LIBRE, whose candidate finished in a distant third place with 19.19% of the vote. Trump takes a spotlight in Honduras Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated Asfura on Wednesday, writing on a post on X: "The people of Honduras have spoken ... (the Trump administration) looks forward to working with his administration to advance prosperity and security in our hemisphere." The European Union and number of right-leading leaders across Latin America, namely Trump-ally Argentine President Javier Milei, also congratulated the politician. Asfura ran as a pragmatic politician, pointing to his popular infrastructure projects in the capital. Trump endorsed the 67-year-old conservative just days before the vote, saying he was the only Honduran candidate the U.S. administration would work with. Nasralla maintained the claim that the election was fraudulent on Wednesday, saying electoral authorities who announced the results "betrayed the Honduran people." On Tuesday night, he also addressed Trump in a post on X, writing: "Mr. President, your endorsed candidate in Honduras is complicit in silencing the votes of our citizens. If he is truly worthy of your backing, if his hands are clean, if he has nothing to fear, then why doesn't he allow for every vote to be counted?" He and other opponents of Asfura have maintained that Trump's last-minute endorsement was an act of electoral interference that ultimately swung the results of the vote. Supporters of the National Party celebrate as the National Electoral Council decelerate presidential candidate Nasry Asfura the winner of Honduras' presidential election in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. Fernando Destephen/AP hide caption toggle caption A chaotic...

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