Trump-backed candidate Nasry Asfura leads Honduras race, early trends show | Politics News

With almost 40 percent of the votes counted in the presidential election, Nasri Asfura has taken a slight lead over his rival Salvador Nasralla.

Nasri Asfura, a conservative politician supported by United States President Donald Trump, is leading in Honduras’ presidential election, with nearly 40 percent of the vote.

Preliminary results on Monday showed the National Party candidate has taken 41 percent of the ballots so far, putting him slightly ahead of his Liberal Party rival, Salvador Nasralla, who had about 39 percent.

Rixi Moncada, the leftist candidate from the ruling Liberty and Refoundation (LIBRE) party, is running in third place with 20 percent.

Sunday’s vote came days after Trump brazenly interfered in Honduran politics and threw his weight behind Asfura, the 67-year-old former mayor of Tegucigalpa, whom the US president said would fight “narco-communists.”

“If he (Asfura) does not win, the United States will not throw good money after bad money,” Trump wrote on his Truth social platform on Friday.

Trump’s comments were reminiscent of his public support for President Javier Miley in Argentina’s midterm elections in late October.

Ahead of Sunday’s vote in Honduras, Trump also announced he would pardon former President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who led the same party as Asfura.

Hernandez, who was president of the Central American country from 2014 to 2022, is currently serving a 45-year prison sentence on drug trafficking and firearms charges.

fan the flames

In the run-up to the election, the three main candidates accused each other of election-fixing, with the President of the National Electoral Council, Ana Paola Hall, warning all parties not to “fan the flames of confrontation or violence”.

Security and employment are the two main concerns for voters in Honduras, a country plagued by drug trafficking and unemployment.

Under the leadership of President Xiomara Castro, murder and unemployment rates have improved, but the country still has Central America’s highest murder rate.