Spanish
Tegucigalpa.- Known as ‘Papi a la orden’ for his direct manner and his discourse focused on work, the conservative Nasry Asfura became this Wednesday the virtual president-elect of Honduras, after a career marked by two failed attempts and the public support of the US president, Donald Trump, to his candidacy.
Asfura, from the opposition National Party, will be the successor to the current president of the country, Xiomara Castro, starting January 27, 2026, after winning in his third presidential attempt with 40.26% of the votes, according to the official statement of the National Electoral Council (CNE).
The candidate of the conservative Liberal Party, Salvador Nasralla, came in second by a narrow margin, with 39.54% of the votes, while the candidate of the ruling Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre), Rixi Moncada, placed third.
Asfura came from losing the 2021 general elections, when the winner was the current outgoing ruler Xiomara Castro, from the leftist Libre party, after a presidential alliance with Nasralla that ended three consecutive terms of the National Party in power, between 2010 and 2022, the last eight under the mandate of Juan Orlando Hernández.
After that defeat, Asfura personally went to congratulate Castro as president-elect.
The Career of Nasry Asfura
The virtual Honduran president-elect, whom Trump expressed his public support for three days before the elections, is a construction businessman of Palestinian origin, born on June 8, 1958, in Tegucigalpa. He was mayor of the Honduran capital for two terms, a period in which he promoted numerous steel and cement infrastructure works aimed at improving vehicular circulation, which gave an air of modernization to several areas of the city.You may be interested in: OAS condemns attacks during electoral scrutiny in Honduras and calls for investigation
Married to Lissette Del Cid and father of three daughters, Asfura has held various public positions since the end of the last century, including councilman of the Mayor's Office of Tegucigalpa and Minister of the Social Investment Fund. After finishing high school at a Catholic school, he began studying engineering, although he soon chose to dedicate himself fully to the construction industry, an activity to which he has devoted most of his life.The proposals for Honduras
He also promised "work and more work", a slogan consistent with his public image: he usually wears jeans, a rolled-up shirt and work boots, and claims not to be "an employee to be in a comfortable office". In that context, he sought the return to power of a National Party worn down after three terms in government marked by multiple accusations of corruption and drug trafficking. Asfura, who professionally defines himself as "a bachelor" —as he enrolled in the civil engineering degree, but did not complete it—, uses basic technology mobile phones, with which he handles a good part of his work matters. In 2020, he was accused by a unit of the Public Ministry of alleged money laundering, fraud, embezzlement of public funds, and abuse of authority, but a ruling by the Judiciary dismissed taking him to trial. The leader has rejected those accusations, as well as any involvement in the Pandora Papers, an international corruption scandal that involved politicians, officials, and businessmen.In the presidential campaign, Asfura focused his proposal on fiscal stability, job creation, and productive infrastructure, in addition to proposing the strengthening of the agricultural sector, the improvement of connectivity, and the execution of projects with an immediate impact on the local economy.
