In brief
In a closely contested presidential election in Honduras, conservative candidate Nasry Asfura, with backing from Donald Trump, has been declared the winner, securing 40.3% of the vote against Salvador Nasralla's 39.5%. The election faced significant delays due to technical issues, leading to allegations of election fraud and tensions across the nation. Asfura insists he is prepared to govern, but Nasralla rejects the results, claiming manipulation of the vote count.
Nasry Asfura has been declared the winner of Honduras' razor-thin presidential election, after weeks of delays following technical problems and allegations of fraud.
The conservative National Party candidate - backed by US President Donald Trump - won with 40.3% of the vote, according to the National Electoral Council (CNE), edging out Salvador Nasralla of the centre-right Liberal Party, who got 39.5%.
In a post on X, Asfura said: Honduras: I am ready to govern. I will not let you down. Meanwhile, Nasralla said at a press conference: I will not accept a result built on omissions. But he also urged his supporters to remain calm.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged all parties to respect the result so that Honduran authorities may ensure a peaceful transition of authority. However, the president of the country's Congress, Luis Redondo, posted saying the result was completely illegal.
The vote was held on 30 November but the count was delayed twice by technical outages, which electoral officials called inexcusable.
The president of the CNE, Ana Paola Hall, blamed the private company tasked with tabulating the results for the delay, stating the firm had carried out maintenance without warning or checking with the CNE.
Due to the tumultuous nature of the processing system, around 15% of the tally sheets had to be counted by hand for the winner to be decided. There have been tensions in Honduras as a result of the delays with protests held across the country last week. Thousands of supporters of the governing Libre party demonstrated in the capital Tegucigalpa over what they considered fraud in the vote.
Outgoing President Xiomara Castro had alleged that an electoral coup was taking place and earlier this month said the election was being marred by interference from Trump. Asfura's close lead came after Trump had previously threatened withdrawal of financial support if he didn't win.
In his statement following the announcement of the result, Rubio said the US would look forward to working with his incoming administration to advance our bilateral and regional security co-operation, adding the two countries would end illegal immigration to the US while strengthening economic ties.
