Controversy Engulfs Honduras Election as Salvador Nasralla Takes the Lead

Thu Dec 04 2025 15:40:06 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

The tightly contested presidential election in Honduras sees Salvador Nasralla edging ahead, while former President Juan Orlando Hernandez's release sparks international debate over U.S. influence in the region.

In a razor-thin electoral race, Honduran candidate Salvador Nasralla has gained a slight lead over rival Nasry Asfura, as Donald Trump's support for Asfura raises concerns of foreign intervention. Amidst this political tension, the controversial release of ex-President Juan Orlando Hernandez after a swift pardon adds fuel to the debate surrounding U.S. involvement in Central American politics.

With a little over two-thirds of the ballots in the Honduras election tallied, the lead has changed hands. The former vice-president, Salvador Nasralla, has a small but potentially significant lead over his rival, the conservative former mayor of Tegucigalpa, Nasry Asfura. Yet Asfura's National Party continues to brief journalists that they have the numbers for an eventual win.

The race remains on a knife-edge. In Washington, President Donald Trump has staked his hopes on nothing less than an outright Asfura victory and has tried to directly influence the race in support of his favored candidate.

Whether it's been intimating that funds could be withheld from the impoverished Central American nation or making unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud, many in Honduras see the U.S. president's fingerprints all over this election.

To Honduran political analyst Josue Murillo, it smacks of the kind of treatment Honduras expected from Washington during the Cold War. No government should come here and treat us as a banana republic. That is a lack of respect, he says.

Irrespective of whether the National Party goes on to victory, one of their key figures is already celebrating. On Monday, ex-President Juan Orlando Hernandez walked out of jail in Virginia a free man having served just one year of a 45-year sentence for drug-smuggling and weapons charges. His release comes after Trump urged Honduran voters to cast their ballots for Asfura.

Trump has claimed the opposite, telling journalists on Air Force One that the people of Honduras really thought Hernandez was set up and it was a terrible thing. However, journalists in Honduras who have followed Hernandez’s rise to power struggle to recognize this praise.

Hernandez’s wife, Ana Garcia Carias, praised Trump’s role in securing her husband's pardon, indicating the influence of key figures like Roger Stone and Matt Gaetz in the matter.

As the ballots continue to be tallied, the political fate of Honduras hangs in the balance, along with the question of U.S. influence over its elections.