TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Trump-backed candidate Nasry Asfura won Honduras’ presidential election, electoral authorities said Wednesday afternoon, ending a weeks-long count that has whittled away at the credibility of the Central American nation’s fragile electoral system.

The election is continuing Latin America’s swing to the right, coming just a week after Chile chose the far-right politician José Antonio Kast as its next president.

Asfura, of the conservative National Party received 40.27% of the vote in the Nov. 30, edging out four-time candidate Salvador Nasralla of the conservative Liberal Party, who finished with 39.53% of the vote.

The former mayor of Honduras’ capital Tegucigalpa, won in his second bid for the presidency, after he and Nasralla were neck-and-neck during a weeks-long vote count that fueled international concern.

On Tuesday night a number of electoral officials and candidates were already fighting and contesting the results of the election. Meanwhile, followers in Asfura’s campaign headquarters erupted into cheers.

“Honduras: I am prepared to govern,” wrote Asfura in a post on X shortly after the results were released. “I will not let you down.”

The results were a rebuke of the current leftist leader, and her governing democratic socialist Liberty and Re-foundation Party, known as LIBRE, whose candidate finished in a distant third place with 19.19% of the vote.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated Asfura on Wednesday, writing on a post on X: “The people of Honduras have spoken … (the Trump administration) looks forward to working with his administration to advance prosperity and security in our hemisphere.”

The European Union and number of right-leading leaders across Latin America, namely Trump-ally Argentine President Javier Milei, also congratulated the politician.

Asfura ran as a pragmatic politician, pointing to his popular infrastructure projects in the capital. Trump endorsed the 67-year-old conservative just days before the vote, saying he was the only Honduran candidate the U.S. administration would work with.

Nasralla maintained the claim that the election was fraudulent on Wednesday, saying electoral authorities who announced the results “betrayed the Honduran people.”

On Tuesday night, he also addressed Trump in a post on X, writing: “Mr. President, your endorsed candidate in Honduras is complicit in silencing the votes of our citizens. If he is truly worthy of your backing, if his hands are clean, if he has nothing to fear, then why doesn’t he allow for every vote to be counted?”

He and other opponents of Asfura have maintained that Trump’s last-minute endorsement was an act of electoral interference that ultimately swung the results of the vote.

The unexpectedly tumultuous election was also marred by a sluggish vote count, which fueled even more accusations.

The Central American nation was stuck in limbo for more than three weeks as vote counting by electoral authorities lagged, and at one point was paralyzed after a special count of final vote tallies was called, fueling warnings by international leaders.

After expressing democratic concern about the lack of results days before, Organization of American States Secretary General Albert Rambin wrote on a post on X on Wednesday that the OAS “takes note” of the results announced and noted it is “closely following events in Honduras”.

It also condemned electoral authorities for announcing the results while the final .07% of votes were counted with such razor-thin margins in the election.

For the incumbent, progressive President Xiomara Castro, the election marked a political reckoning. She was elected in 2021 on a promise to reduce violence and root out corruption.

She was among a group of progressive leaders in Latin American who were elected on a hopeful message of change around five years ago but are now being cast out after failing to deliver on their vision. Castro said last week that she would accept the results of the elections even after she claimed that Trump’s actions in the election amounted to an “electoral coup.”

But Eric Olson, an independent international observer during the Honduran election with the Seattle International Foundation, and other observers said the rejection of Castro and her party was so definitive that they had little room to contest the results.

“Very few people, even within LIBRE, believe they won the election. What they will say is there’s been fraud, that there has been intervention by Donald Trump, that we we should tear up the elections and vote again,” Olson said. “But they’re not saying ‘we won the elections.’ It’s pretty clear they did not.”

Janetsky reported from Mexico City.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Honduras Attorney General Johel Zelaya said Monday that he had ordered Honduran authorities and asked Interpol to execute a 2023 arrest order for ex-President Juan Orlando Hernández, pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Hernández was released from federal prison in the United States last week after Trump pardoned him. Hernández had been sentenced in U.S. federal court last year to 45 years in prison for helping move tons of cocaine to the United States.

Hernández went from supposed U.S. ally in the war on drugs to the subject of a U.S. extradition request shortly after he left office in 2022. He was detained and sent to the U.S. by current President Xiomara Castro of the social democrat LIBRE party.

Zelaya included a photo of the two-year-old order signed by a Supreme Court magistrate for alleged fraud and money laundering charges. The order says that it must be executed “in the case that the accused is freed by United States authorities.”

Dozens of Honduran officials and politicians were implicated in the so-called Pandora case in which Honduran prosecutors alleged government funds were diverted through a network on nongovernmental organizations to political parties, including Hernández’s 2013 presidential campaign.

A lawyer for Hernández, Renato Stabile, said in an email that, “This is obviously a strictly political move on behalf of the defeated Libre party to try to intimidate President Hernandez as they are being kicked out of power in Honduras. It is shameful and a desperate piece of political theatre and these charges are completely baseless.”

Zelaya had said after Trump announced his intention to pardon Hernández that his office would have to take action to end impunity.

Hernández’s wife said after his release that the former president was in an undisclosed location for his safety.

The drama comes while Honduras is still waiting to find out who its next president will be.

Trump endorsed Nasry Asfura, a former Tegucigalpa mayor from Hernández’s conservative National Party. Asfura was leading Salvador Nasralla, also a conservative from the Liberal Party, by barely a percentage point as the vote count slowly advanced.

An Asfura victory could potentially smooth the way for Hernández’s eventual return to Honduras. Nasralla has made fighting corruption the centerpiece of his campaign and has said Hernández stole the 2017 election from him in a vote that was full of irregularities.

Hernández always denied any wrongdoing while in office and insisted he was among the strongest antidrug allies of the United States.

Trump had announced his intention to pardon Hernández just days before Honduras’ national elections, throwing a new element into a close contest. While some Hondurans remain nostalgic for Hernández’s two terms in office, many were shocked that a man convicted of drug trafficking in a closely watched trial could suddenly be released early in his sentence.

Trump said Hondurans had requested the pardon for Hernández and that after looking at his case he decided Hernández had been unfairly treated by prosecutors.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Honduras’ former President Juan Orlando Hernández thanked U.S. President Donald Trump Wednesday for pardoning him in his first communication since being released from a U.S. prison.

Hernández was one year into a 45-year prison sentence for helping drug traffickers move hundreds of tons of cocaine to the U.S. in exchange for bribes that fueled his political rise.

Trump shocked Hondurans last Friday by announcing his intention to pardon Hernández two days before the country’s national elections, arguing that that the former leader had been the victim of an unjust and politically-motivated prosecution.

“I said it as I left my home, I said it as I was wrongfully convicted, and I will say it again now that I have my liberty. I am innocent,” Hernández posted to X Wednesday.

“You changed my life, sir, and I will never forget it.”

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Sunday that Hondurans had asked him to pardon Hernández.

“They (U.S. prosecutors) basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country. And they said it was a Biden administration set-up,” Trump said. “And I looked at the facts and I agreed with them.”

Hernández was released Monday from U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton in West Virginia. His wife, Ana García, confirmed his release early Tuesday.

García said Hernández was in an undisclosed location for his safety.

García said Hernández began seeking a pardon began several months ago with a petition to the office of pardons. Then on Oct. 28 — his birthday — he wrote a letter to Trump.

In the days before Honduras held an election, Trump also endorsed a presidential candidate from Hernández’s conservative National Party.

As the vote count advanced Wednesday, National Party candidate Nasry Asfura trailed Salvador Nasralla of the conservative Liberal Party by less than 1% of the votes counted.

Hernández has portrayed himself as a hero of the anti-drug trafficking movement who teamed up with American authorities under three U.S. presidential administrations to reduce drug imports.

Hernández was arrested at the request of the United States in February 2022, weeks after current President Xiomara Castro took office.

Two years later, Hernández was sentenced to 45 years in prison in a New York federal courtroom for taking bribes from drug traffickers so they could move some 400 tons (360 metric tons) of cocaine north through Honduras to the United States.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández, sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for his role in helping drug traffickers move hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States, was released from prison following a pardon from President Donald Trump, his wife announced Tuesday.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons inmate website showed that Hernández was released from U.S. Penitentiary, Hazelton in West Virginia on Monday and a spokesperson for the bureau on Tuesday confirmed his release.

His wife Ana García thanked Trump for pardoning Hernández via the social platform X early Tuesday.

“After almost four years of pain, of waiting and difficult challenges, my husband Juan Orlando Hernández RETURNED to being a free man, thanks to the presidential pardon granted by President Donald Trump,” García’s post said. She included a picture of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons listing for Hernández indicating his release.

Hernández was arrested at the request of the United States in February 2022, weeks after handing over power to current President Xiomara Castro.

Two years later, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison in a New York federal courtroom for taking bribes from drug traffickers so they could safely move some 400 tons of cocaine north through Honduras to the United States.

Hernández maintained throughout that he was innocent and the victim of revenge by drug traffickers he had helped extradite to the United States.

On Sunday, Trump was asked about why he pardoned Hernandez by reporters traveling with him on Air Force One.

“I was asked by Honduras, many of the people of Honduras,” Trump said.

“The people of Honduras really thought he was set up, and it was a terrible thing,” he said.

“They basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country. And they said it was a Biden administration set-up. And I looked at the facts and I agreed with them.”

The pardon promised by Trump days before Honduras’ presidential election injected a new element into the contest that some said helped the candidate from his National Party Nasry Asfura, one of the leaders as the vote count proceeded Tuesday.

TEGUCIGALPA, Dec 1 (Reuters) – Nasry Asfura, the Conservative National Party candidate backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, leads Honduras’ presidential election with just over 40% of votes counted, preliminary results showed on Monday.

A former mayor of Tegucigalpa, 67-year-old Asfura had 41% of the votes counted so far. The preliminary results showed Liberal Party candidate Salvador Nasralla in second place with about 39%. Rixi Moncada, of the ruling LIBRE party, had 20%, and was in third place.

Whichever candidate wins a simple majority will govern the country between 2026 and 2030.

In the run-up, Trump weighed in on the tightly contested race to throw his support behind Asfura in a series of social media posts, saying he can work with him to counter drug trafficking and that “if he doesn’t win, the United States will not be throwing good money after bad.”

On Friday, Trump also said he will grant a pardon to former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who is serving a 45-year prison sentence in the U.S. for drug trafficking and firearms charges. Hernandez, who led Honduras from 2014-2022, was also of the National Party.

Both Asfura and Nasralla have said they may resume diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which were severed in 2023. Such a move would mark the biggest diplomatic setback for China in the region for decades.

Sunday’s vote, in which the 128 members of Congress, hundreds of mayors, and thousands of other public officials are also being chosen, took place in a highly polarized climate, with the three top candidates hurling accusations of possible fraud. Moncada has suggested she would not recognize the official results.

Most polls showed a virtual tie between the three candidates heading into election day. The Organization of American States expressed concerns about the electoral process, and the majority of its members in an extraordinary session last week called for the government of outgoing President Xiomara Castro to conduct elections free of intimidation, fraud and political interference.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau also warned the U.S. will respond “swiftly and decisively to anyone who undermines the integrity of the democratic process in Honduras.”

On Sunday, some frustrated voters and electoral observers denounced officials for turning away citizens still waiting to vote. The National Electoral Council (CNE) had extended polling station hours until 6 p.m. (2400 GMT) and gave individual voting stations the authority to remain open an additional hour. However, some locations appeared to close while voters were still waiting.

Honduras, where six out of every 10 citizens live in poverty, suffered a coup in 2009 when an alliance of right-wing military figures, politicians and businessmen overthrew Manuel Zelaya, the husband of the current president. In 2021, Hondurans voted massively for Castro, ending more than a century of rule by the National and Liberal parties.

Honduras’ Attorney General’s Office, aligned with the ruling party, has accused the opposition parties of planning to commit voter fraud, a claim they deny. Prosecutors have opened an investigation into audio recordings that allegedly show a high-ranking National Party politician discussing plans with an unidentified military officer to influence the election. The alleged recordings, which the National Party says were created using artificial intelligence, were central to Moncada’s campaign.

The Honduran military has also come under criticism for asking the National Election Council to give it copies of the tally sheets on election day, which is a violation of Honduran law.

These tensions contributed to a growing public distrust of the electoral authorities and the electoral process in general.

Castro, the first woman to govern Honduras, increased public investment and social spending. The economy has grown moderately, and poverty and inequality have decreased, although both remain high. The International Monetary Fund has praised her government’s prudent fiscal management.

The country’s homicide rate has also fallen to its lowest level in recent history, but violence persists. Human rights groups have criticized Castro for maintaining a prolonged state of emergency in parts of Honduras and for continuing to rely on the military for policing, the approach of her predecessor Hernandez.

(Reporting by Laura Garcia in Tegucigalpa; Leila Miller in Buenos Aires; Diego Ore in Mexico City; editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Lincoln Feast)