Conservative Nasry Asfura, supported by Trump, wins elections in Honduras: authorities | Election news

Asfura says he is ready to govern after a close vote as the United States urges “all parties to respect the confirmed results”.

Nasry Asfura, conservative candidate supported by the President of the United States Donald Trumpwon Honduras’ hotly contested presidential elections, the country’s electoral board said.

The final results, announced Wednesday – more than 20 days after the vote – are likely to spark challenges in this Central American country.

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According to the electoral authority, known as CNE, Asfura won 40.3 percent of the vote, ahead of center-right Liberal Party candidate Salvador Nasralla, who received 39.5 percent.

In a brief message on social media, Asfura thanked the CNE on Wednesday. “Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not disappoint you,” he wrote.

Trump came out strongly in favor of Asfura, attacking Nasralla and left-wing candidate Rixi Moncada, who ultimately received less than 20 percent of the vote.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was quick to congratulate Asfura on Wednesday, saying Washington looked forward to working with him.

“The people of Honduras have spoken: Nasry Asfura is the next president of Honduras,” Rubio wrote in a social media post.

In a separate statement, Rubio urged “all parties to respect the confirmed results” of the election.

Earlier this month, Trump pardoned the former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez – a member of Asfura’s National Party – who was serving a long prison sentence in the United States for drug trafficking.

Asfura, the former mayor of Honduras’ capital Tegucigalpa, is of Palestinian origin. But his National Party is resolutely pro-Israeli.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Wednesday that he spoke with Asfura and that officials agreed to “strengthen bilateral relations” between the two countries.

“I conveyed our warm wishes to the people of Honduras, wished them every success in their role and invited them to visit Israel,” Saar said in a statement. “Honduras has a long history of friendship with the State of Israel and the Jewish people. »

Under Hernández, in 2021, Honduras became only the fourth country to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, in violation of international law. Asfura has also aligned himself with Trump and other right-wing leaders in the Americas, including the president of Argentina. Javier Miley.

Argentina’s president on Wednesday hailed Honduras’ election results as a victory against “narcosocialism” despite the National Party’s Hernández being a convicted drug trafficker.

“The Honduran people courageously spoke out at the ballot box and chose to end years of authoritarianism and decadence,” Milei wrote in a social media post.

“From Argentina, we celebrate the triumph of freedom and reaffirm our commitment to democracy, the popular will and unrestricted respect for the region’s institutions. »

Asfura’s victory marks another victory for right-wing candidates in Latin America over the past year. Chile and Bolivia also elected ultraconservative presidents in 2025, and last year El Salvador’s right-wing leader Nayib Bukele was comfortably re-elected.

The results appear to reverse the “pink tide” – the wave of left-wing leaders who rose to power in the region in the early 2020s.

The rise of right-wing governments in the region coincides with a US pressure campaign against Venezuela’s left-wing President Nicolas Maduro.

Trump imposed an oil blockade on Venezuela and amassed U.S. troops and military assets near the country.