Description: Nasry Asfura, the conservative presidential candidate, has been declared as the winner of the presidential election held in Nov. The country’s electoral commission, the CNE, has faced significant difficulties in counting the ballots from the vote and postponed the announcement for over three weeks, which spurred speculations that the election was rigged. Asfura was publicly endorsed by US President Trump, who stated that he was the only candidate the US was willing to work with in the future while also threatening to cut financial aid if Asfura wasn’t elected. Opposing candidate, the center – right Salvador Nasralla, denounced the results and stated that the CNE failed to count all the votes following the closely contested election. Nasralla also warned his supporters against public unrest and urged them to tackle the electoral injustice through democratic means.
Impact: Asfura’s campaign, which was largely based on foreign investment, progressive education, infrastructural development and security has been scrutinized by the controversial election process. Trump’s endorsement undoubtedly swayed voters in Asfura’s favor, as the US continues to campaign across South America’s political landscape, which has market a significant change from leftist towards conservative right leaning political parties and candidates. Asfura is the latest right leaning candidate to be selected for a high – level government position which significantly strengthens the US influence over the continent. Civil unrest due to the controversial results at this point is highly improbable, however, the country’s rapid shift towards conservatism could incentivize the political opposition to react, which in turn could elevate the risk of public unrest. Honduras under Asfura is expected to devise closer economic and defense ties with the US, which would in turn expand the US footprint in South America and counter China and Russia’s growing influence over the last couple of years.