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A conservative candidate backed by Donald Trump held a narrow lead in Honduras’s presidential election, according to preliminary official results that, if confirmed, would give the US president another staunch ally in a region strategic for his campaign to curb drug trafficking and migration.
Nasry “Tito” Asfura, a former construction magnate and mayor of the capital Tegucigalpa, held 40.6 per cent of the vote as of late Sunday local time, according to the National Electoral Council.
This was just two points clear of his nearest rival, former television host Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal party, but twice that of government candidate Rixi Moncada of the ruling Libre party, who was trailing on 19.5 per cent.
Trump last week threw his weight squarely behind Asfura of the National party, urging voters to shun Libre and saying a vote for “communist” Moncada would let Venezuelan President Nicolás “Maduro and his narcoterrorists take over” Honduras. Trump has amassed a huge naval presence off the coast of Venezuela in what many believe is a prelude to an attempt to force Maduro from office.
Despite his stated aim of cracking down on the flow of drugs into the US, Trump on Friday unexpectedly announced he was pardoning previous president Juan Orlando Hernández, who is serving a 45-year term in jail in the US for cocaine trafficking.
Orlando Pérez, a professor of political science at the University of North Texas at Dallas, said Trump’s “gamble [to endorse Asfura] seems to have paid off” and could have swayed some voters.
Trump, who already has a close ally in President Nayib Bukele in neighbouring El Salvador, had threatened to cut off aid if Asfura did not win.
“Honduras is a socially conservative society and its economy depends heavily on remittances and trade with the US,” Pérez said. “So anything that might jeopardise those issues will move voters.”
There were jubilant scenes at the National party’s headquarters as the results were counted. But the candidates had before the vote accused each other of fraud, and it was not immediately clear whether they would all accept the results.
Nasralla said a “difference of 23,000 votes is practically nothing” and his tally put him five points ahead.
“The National party is not winning,” Nasralla told a news conference.
Moncada wrote on X that people had turned out “massively” to vote for her and she would announce “her position” at a news conference on Monday.
Asfura, whose nickname is “Papi at your service”, was also expected to address the media.
President Xiomara Castro, who was stepping down, did not immediately comment. But her husband Manuel Zelaya — a president ousted by a military coup in 2009 — urged supporters to remain “ready to fight until we get the full result of votes . . . for Moncada” to respect the will of the people.
“Both the president and armed forces will be critical to what’s going to happen in the next 24 to 48 hours,” said Pérez.
Both Asfura and Nasralla have indicated they would recognise Taiwan if elected, reversing Honduras’s 2023 decision to pivot to Beijing.
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