Winning margin of 28,000 votes announced a month late but before review of all ‘inconsistent’ ballots was completed
Donald Trump-backed candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura has been declared the winner of Honduras’s presidential election after a vote count that dragged on for almost a month and was marred by fraud allegations and criticism of interference by the US president.
The rightwing Asfura, 67, a construction magnate and former mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa, secured 40.27% of the vote, against 39.53% for the centre-right Salvador Nasralla, a margin of just 28,000 votes.
The electoral council proclaimed a winner before completing the review of all tally sheets under a “special scrutiny” launched last week earlier to recount votes flagged as “inconsistent”. The decision was criticised by defeated candidates and lamented by the Organization of American States, which sent an observation mission to the election held on 30 November but whose vote count had remained unresolved since then.
Asfura has already declared himself president-elect. “Honduras, we now have the official declaration from the CNE [electoral council]. I recognise the great work carried out by the councillors and the entire team that ran the election. Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down. God bless Honduras,” he wrote.
