Honduras elects president backed by Donald Trump

The election was held on November 30, but the announcement of the results was delayed for several weeks due to technical problems and allegations of fraud.

On Wednesday, December 24, the electoral authority said that Nasry Asfura had won 40.3% of the vote, narrowly beating Salvador Nasralla of the center-right Liberal Party, who received 39.5%. The candidate of the ruling LIBRE party, Rixi Moncada, finished third.

What is known about winner and election process

Asfura ran on a broad pro-business platform, emphasizing the need for private investment to drive development. His campaign focused on job creation, education, and public security.

He also signaled that Honduras could shift its diplomatic recognition back to Taiwan and abandon support for Beijing.

According to Reuters, the margin was so tight and the ballot-processing system so chaotic that about 15% of tally sheets, covering hundreds of thousands of ballots, had to be recounted manually to determine the winner.

For weeks after the vote, the LIBRE party repeatedly called for protests against what it described as an "electoral coup." Demonstrations disrupted the manual recount, blocking officials’ access to the building where tally sheets were stored.

Ultimately, the results were certified by two members of the electoral council and one alternate, while disputes over the razor-thin margin continued. A third council member, Marlon Ochoa, was not present in the video announcing the winner.

"Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down," Asfura said in a post on X following the confirmation of the results.

However, the head of Honduras’s Congress rejected the outcome, calling it an "electoral coup."

"This is completely outside the law. It has no value," Congress President Luis Redondo, of the ruling LIBRE party, wrote on X.

Support from Trump

US President Donald Trump publicly backed Asfura, a 67-year-old politician and businessman, and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa. Ahead of the vote, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Asfura was "the only true friend of freedom in Honduras" and urged voters to support him.

Trump also threatened to cut US financial assistance to Honduras if Asfura did not win, and he pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, as well as a member of Asfura’s National Party who had been serving a 45-year sentence in the United States on drug and weapons trafficking charges.

Amid delays in the vote count, Trump again intervened, alleging fraud without providing evidence and warning that there would be a "heavy price" if Honduras were to reverse preliminary results that had put Asfura ahead.

Analysts say Trump’s support for Asfura is part of his broader effort to build a conservative bloc across Latin America, from Nayib Bukele in El Salvador to Javier Milei in Argentina.

Both Nasralla and the ruling LIBRE party condemned Trump’s comments as interference in the election. In early December, Nasralla told Reuters that Trump’s last-minute intervention had undermined his chances of victory.

Trump-backed candidates suffer setbacks

In contrast, in several US cities, candidates backed by Trump have suffered defeats.

In New York City’s mayoral election, Democrat Zohran Mamdani won, despite Trump’s efforts to block his victory by urging voters to support another Democratic candidate.

Separately, following local elections in several states, White House officials said Republicans were losing support due to insufficient focus on domestic issues.