Conservative businessman Nasry Asfura, supported by Donald Trump, was declared the winner on Wednesday December 24 of the presidential election in Honduras, three weeks after a vote marked by a very small difference and accusations of fraud, marking a return to the right of the country.
After four years in office of left-wing President Xiomara Castro, this victory accentuates the advance of right-wing governments in Latin America after the changes in Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Argentina. The region’s two largest economies, Brazil and Mexico, are however governed by the left.
Nasry Asfura, 67 years old and son of Palestinian immigrants, is due to take office on January 27. Nicknamed “Tito”, this construction entrepreneur won against television presenter Salvador Nasralla, also from the right, who demanded a large recount of the votes due to supposed irregularities.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) “declares citizen Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah elected for a four-year term”, indicated its president Ana Paola Hall. Nasry Asfura obtained 40.1% of the vote, compared to 39.53% for Salvador Nasralla and 19.19% for Rixi Moncada, candidate of outgoing left-wing president Xiomara Castro, according to official results. “Honduras, (…) I’m not going to disappoint you,” reacted the winner on X.
Donald Trump’s threats
As soon as Nasry Asfura was declared president-elect, the head of American diplomacy, Marco Rubio, hailed in a press release a “clear” and “indisputable” victory, calling on all parties “to respect the results”. “We look forward to working with his administration to advance our bilateral and regional security cooperation, end illegal immigration to the United States, and strengthen economic ties between our two countries,” he added.
The United States is the country’s main trading partner and 2 million Hondurans live there. Their remittances represent a third of the national GDP. On the eve of the one-round vote on November 30, Donald Trump threatened to reduce aid to one of the poorest countries in Latin America if Nasry Asfura was not elected.
The White House tenant also pardoned the conservative candidate’s mentor, former President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was serving a 45-year prison sentence in the United States for drug trafficking. On his social networks, the former leader estimated that Honduras was closing a “cycle and opening a new stage” to “right the bar”. The Argentine President, Javier Milei, spoke of a “categorical defeat for narcosocialism”.
The multiple suspensions of the initial count, due, according to the CNE, to technical problems attributed to the private company responsible for transmitting and disseminating the results, fueled suspicions of electoral fraud. Salvador Nasralla denounced a “theft” of the election and Rixi Moncada, relegated to third place, a “falsification” of the result and the “interference” of the American president in the vote. A final recount of the numerous minutes of the polling stations accused of presenting inconsistencies then took place.
The electoral observation missions of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union (EU) in Honduras, however, indicated that they had not observed any serious irregularities.
Support from the military
Former mayor of Tegucigalpa, Nasry Asfura is assured of the support of the military, which plays a key role in Honduras due to a long history of coups. The most recent, in 2009, overthrew President Manuel Zelaya, husband of Ms. Castro.
The president-elect promises to attract foreign investment in this nation of 11 million inhabitants and has expressed his intention to move closer to Taiwan, after President Castro restores relations with China in 2023. But he will have to govern a country even more polarized following the contested electoral process, and prey to drug traffickers and gangs, which the outgoing president tried to combat by relying on a state of exception similar to that of her Salvadoran counterpart, Nayib Bukele. As in the neighboring country, organizations denounce a strategy that has led to human rights violations.
