In a highly contested and controversial election, Nasry Asfura has been officially declared the winner of the Honduras presidential election. This announcement comes after weeks of delays attributed to significant technical problems and allegations of electoral fraud. Asfura, the candidate from the conservative National Party, garnered 40.3% of the votes, as reported by the National Electoral Council (CNE). He narrowly defeated Salvador Nasralla of the centre-right Liberal Party, who received 39.5% of the vote.
Following the announcement of his victory, Asfura took to social media platform X to express his readiness to govern, stating, "Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down." The sentiment was echoed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who urged all political parties to respect the electoral results to facilitate a peaceful transition of authority in Honduras.
However, the election results have not been without controversy. The president of Honduras's Congress, Luis Redondo, publicly condemned the election results, declaring them "completely illegal." The election, held on November 30, faced significant setbacks, including a delayed vote count attributed to technical outages that CNE officials termed "inexcusable."
Ana Paola Hall, the president of the CNE, attributed the delays to a private company responsible for tabulating the election results, claiming they conducted maintenance without prior notice or consultation with the CNE. The situation worsened when the real-time results portal crashed a day before the scheduled count. Due to the chaotic nature of the processing system, approximately 15% of the tally sheets had to be counted manually to determine the election winner.
The delays in announcing the results sparked tensions throughout the country, leading to widespread protests. Thousands of supporters of the ruling Libre Party demonstrated in the capital, Tegucigalpa, alleging that fraud had tainted the electoral process. Outgoing President Xiomara Castro claimed that an electoral coup was underway and accused former US President Donald Trump of interfering in the election. Trump had previously endorsed Asfura, warning that there would be "hell to pay" if Asfura's narrow lead was overturned during the counting process.
In a surprising turn of events, Trump also pardoned Juan Orlando Hernandez, a member of Asfura's National Party, who was serving a 45-year prison sentence in the United States for drug and weapons charges. This endorsement and subsequent pardon have raised eyebrows and further fueled allegations of corruption and manipulation in the electoral process.
Nine days after the election, Nasralla accused corrupt individuals of manipulating the vote count in Honduras, emphasizing that Trump's comments had adversely affected his chances of winning. In response to the election outcome, Secretary Rubio stated that the US looks forward to collaborating with Asfura’s administration to enhance bilateral and regional security cooperation, emphasizing the need to curb illegal immigration while strengthening economic ties between the two nations.
The unfolding situation in Honduras remains tense as the nation grapples with the implications of this closely contested election and the legitimacy of its results.