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 stated at a press conference: I will not accept a result built on omissions, urging his supporters to remain calm.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for all parties to respect the result to ensure a peaceful transition, but the Congress president Luis Redondo labeled the election outcome as completely illegal.
The election, held on November 30, suffered delays due to technical outages deemed inexcusable. CNE president Ana Paola Hall attributed these issues to a private company contracted to handle the vote count without proper coordination.
In response to the timing of the delays and tensions following the election, protests erupted as supporters of the governing Libre party accused corrupt practices in the vote count.
Outgoing President Xiomara Castro alleged that an electoral coup was underway, pointing to outside interference from Trump, who had warned of consequences if Asfura did not secure the presidency.
Despite the controversies surrounding the election's integrity, both countries' officials are looking to strengthen bilateral relations and tackle issues such as illegal immigration under Asfura's incoming administration.
