Preliminary results from Honduras’ National Electoral Council (CNE) indicate that conservative candidate Nasry Asfura, endorsed by President Donald Trump, is narrowly leading the nation’s presidential election race.
Honduras, presently led by outgoing far-left President Xiomara Castro, held general elections on Sunday to choose a new president and members of Congress. At press time, the nation’s electoral authority has not released a finalized vote count.
While there were roughly a dozen candidates initially running for president, the race was mainly led by Nasry Asfura of the conservative National Party of Honduras (PNH), Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party, and Rixi Moncada of the far-left Liberty and Refoundation (Libre) party. Nasralla ran as President Castro’s running mate in the 2021 elections and served as vice president until 2024, when he resigned and eventually became the Liberal Party’s candidate.
Preliminary results published by CNE on Monday morning (8:00 a.m. Eastern) indicate that, with roughly 56 percent of the votes counted, Asfura has 40 percent of the votes against Nasralla’s 39.8 percent — with only a roughly 4,100 vote difference between the two. Moncada, the outgoing far-left government’s candidate, is trailing behind at third place with 19.2 percent of the votes.
Finalized results were reportedly expected to be released by the CNE at 9:00 p.m. (local time) on Sunday, but have not been released at press time. The electoral authority has not publicly provided explanations for the reasons behind the delays, leading to reported “growing tension” at tallying centers where electoral observers and representatives of the nation’s political parties await the results.
Footage published by the Honduran newspaper El Heraldo on Monday morning showed trucks transporting voter ballots at the headquarters of the National Institute for Vocational Training (Infop) in Tegucigalpa to continue the vote count process.
Asfura, a 67 year-old conservative former mayor and lawmaker who received President Trump’s endorsement last week, reportedly demanded on Sunday that the CNE present finalized results and comply with the deadlines established by the nation’s electoral laws.
“Article 279 clearly states that the first cut-off is at three hours and should have been at 9:00 p.m.,” said Asfura of the National Party on Sunday night, visibly frustrated.
”We demand that [CNE head] Ana Paola Hall come out and comply. I don’t know what she’s waiting for. Come out and do your duty,” Asfura reportedly said. “Let’s not keep the country waiting, on tenterhooks, in darkness. Please, do it for the sake of democracy.”
The left-wing propaganda network Telesur reported on Monday that the ruling Libre Party is not recognizing the partial results indicating its socialist candidate Rixi Moncada is set to lose the election regardless of its outcome. The party reportedly justified its decision on grounds that both President Castro and Moncada had denounced the purported “hacking” of the nation’s preliminary results systems.
“Both leaders denounced a ‘sabotage plan’ and ‘psychological warfare’ aimed at manipulating the will of the people. In this context, Moncada had asked citizens to ‘remain vigilant until the final results with 100 percent of the votes are obtained,’ Telesur wrote.
“If Tito Asfura wins for President of Honduras, because the United States has so much confidence in him, his Policies, and what he will do for the Great People of Honduras, we will be very supportive,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday, giving his endorsement to Asfura. “If he doesn’t win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad, because a wrong Leader can only bring catastrophic results to a country, no matter which country it is.”
President Trump, in another Truth Social post on Friday, criticized Rixi Moncada for her admiration of Cuba’s late communist dictator Fidel Castro and also condemned Nasralla as a “borderline communist” who served as Xiomara Castro’s vice president – who is now “pretending to be an anti-Communist only for the purposes of splitting Asfura’s vote.”
“I cannot work with Moncada and the Communists, and Nasralla is not a reliable partner for Freedom, and cannot be trusted. I hope the people of Honduras vote for Freedom and Democracy, and elect Tito Asfura, President!” President Trump wrote.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
Read the full article here