Trump-backed candidate Nasry Asfura winner of Honduras’ presidential vote : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8640x5760+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F82%2Fbf%2F524e16784481b130d312b8b8372b%2Fap25335743591519.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8640x5760+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F82%2Fbf%2F524e16784481b130d312b8b8372b%2Fap25335743591519.jpg" class="img" alt="Presidential candidate Nasry Asfura, of the National Party, gives a press conference in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Monday, Dec. 1, 2025." fetchpriority="high"/> Presidential candidate Nasry Asfura, of the Nationwide Social gathering, provides a press convention in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. Moises Castillo/AP conceal caption

toggle caption

Moises Castillo/AP TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Trump-backed candidate Nasry Asfura gained Honduras' presidential election, electoral authorities stated Wednesday afternoon, ending a weeks-long depend that has whittled away on the credibility of the Central American nation's fragile electoral system.

The election is constant Latin America's swing to the fitting, coming only a week after Chile selected the far-right politician José Antonio Kast as its subsequent president.

Asfura, of the conservative Nationwide Social gathering obtained 40.27% of the vote within the Nov. 30, edging out four-time candidate Salvador Nasralla of the conservative Liberal Social gathering, who completed with 39.53% of the vote.

Honduras' president-elect The previous mayor of Honduras' capital Tegucigalpa, gained in his second bid for the presidency, after he and Nasralla have been neck-and-neck throughout a weeks-long vote depend that fueled worldwide concern.

On Tuesday night time numerous electoral officers and candidates have been already preventing and contesting the outcomes of the election. In the meantime, followers in Asfura's marketing campaign headquarters erupted into cheers.

"Honduras: I'm ready to manipulate," wrote Asfura in a put up on X shortly after the outcomes have been launched. "I cannot allow you to down."

The outcomes have been a rebuke of the present leftist chief, and her governing democratic socialist Liberty and Re-foundation Social gathering, generally known as LIBRE, whose candidate completed in a distant third place with 19.19% of the vote.

Trump takes a highlight in Honduras Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated Asfura on Wednesday, writing on a put up on X: "The individuals of Honduras have spoken ... (the Trump administration) appears to be like ahead to working together with his administration to advance prosperity and safety in our hemisphere."

The European Union and variety of right-leading leaders throughout Latin America, specifically Trump-ally Argentine President Javier Milei, additionally congratulated the politician.

Asfura ran as a practical politician, pointing to his fashionable infrastructure tasks within the capital. Trump endorsed the 67-year-old conservative simply days earlier than the vote, saying he was the one Honduran candidate the U.S. administration would work with.

Nasralla maintained the declare that the election was fraudulent on Wednesday, saying electoral authorities who introduced the outcomes "betrayed the Honduran individuals."

On Tuesday night time, he additionally addressed Trump in a put up on X, writing: "Mr. President, your endorsed candidate in Honduras is complicit in silencing the votes of our residents. If he's really worthy of your backing, if his palms are clear, if he has nothing to concern, then why would not he permit for each vote to be counted?"

He and different opponents of Asfura have maintained that Trump's last-minute endorsement was an act of electoral interference that finally swung the outcomes of the vote.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5562x3708+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fa4%2Fb4%2Fc504616c478997001dfdee23eea4%2Fap25358808746990.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5562x3708+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fa4%2Fb4%2Fc504616c478997001dfdee23eea4%2Fap25358808746990.jpg" class="img" alt="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." loading="lazy"/> Supporters of the Nationwide Social gathering have a good time because the Nationwide Electoral Council decelerate presidential candidate Nasry Asfura the winner of Honduras' presidential election in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. Fernando Destephen/AP conceal caption

toggle caption

Fernando Destephen/AP A chaotic election The unexpectedly tumultuous election was additionally marred by a sluggish vote depend, which fueled much more accusations.

The Central American nation was caught in limbo for greater than three weeks as vote counting by electoral authorities lagged, and at one level was paralyzed after a particular depend of ultimate vote tallies was referred to as, fueling warnings by worldwide leaders.

After expressing democratic concern in regards to the lack of outcomes days earlier than, Group of American States Secretary Common Albert Rambin wrote on a put up on X on Wednesday that the OAS "takes be aware" of the outcomes introduced and famous it's "carefully following occasions in Honduras".

It additionally condemned electoral authorities for asserting the outcomes whereas the ultimate .07% of votes have been counted with such razor-thin margins within the election.

A rightward shift in Latin America For the incumbent, progressive President Xiomara Castro, the election marked a political reckoning. She was elected in 2021 on a promise to scale back violence and root out corruption.

She was amongst a gaggle of progressive leaders in Latin American who have been elected on a hopeful message of change round 5 years in the past however at the moment are being solid out after failing to ship on their imaginative and prescient. Castro stated final week that she would settle for the outcomes of the elections even after she claimed that Trump's actions within the election amounted to an "electoral coup."

However Eric Olson, an unbiased worldwide observer throughout the Honduran election with the Seattle Worldwide Basis, and different observers stated the rejection of Castro and her celebration was so definitive that they'd little room to contest the outcomes.

"Only a few individuals, even inside LIBRE, consider they gained the election. What they are going to say is there's been fraud, that there was intervention by Donald Trump, that we we must always tear up the elections and vote once more," Olson stated. "However they don't seem to be saying 'we gained the elections.' It is fairly clear they didn't."