The population of Honduras goes to the polls this Sunday (30) to choose who will be President Xiomara Castro’s successor.
Most opinion polls show a technical tie between ruling party candidate Rixi Moncada, former Tegucigalpa mayor Nasry Asfura of the National Party and TV presenter Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party.
See who the main candidates are:
Rixi Moncada
A 60-year-old teacher and lawyer, Moncada is running for president of the Freedom and Refundation party (LIBRE), which has governed the country since 2022.
Moncada has held various positions in the public and private sectors: she was a judge, magistrate, advisor to the Attorney General’s Office and teacher and, since 2006, she has led several ministries, including Labor and Social Security, Finance and Defense.
She was born on February 13, 1965, in the small mountainous municipality of Talanga, about 52 kilometers north of the capital Tegucigalpa. She left for the capital to continue her studies and graduated at 17.
Moncada began her political career as an advisor in Congress. In 2006, left-wing President Manuel Zelaya (2006-2009) appointed her Secretary of Labor. After a coup against Zelaya in mid-2009, Moncada remained loyal and was one of the founders of a group demanding Zelaya’s return to power, which would become the LIBRE party in 2012.
In 2009, she faced accusations of corruption in a building lease for the state energy company ENEE, which she led at the time. The case was dropped in 2010. Critics also accuse her of nepotism for placing relatives in public positions, an allegation she denies, saying they are “hard-working people earning minimum wages.”
Moncada proposed to “democratize the economy” through the expansion of credit, the strengthening of national production and the construction of an economic model that generates “real opportunities for all”. She also proposed changes to the Constitution for judicial reform.
“Our fight against corruption is frontal and without fear. There is only one way to reform the justice system: have a majority in Congress”, said Moncada during the campaign.
Nasry “Tito” Asfura
A 67-year-old politician and businessman, Asfura is running for president for the second time in a row for the National Party, aligned with the conservative right.
The last president linked to the party, Juan Orlando Hernández (2014-2022), On Friday (28), US President Donald Trump said he would grant a “complete and total pardon” to the former president.
calling him “the only true friend of freedom in Honduras”. In a post on Truth Social, the American president said that
Asfura was born in Tegucigalpa on June 8, 1958, into a family of Palestinian descent. He studied civil engineering, but did not complete the course. In the 1990s, he entered public life during the administration of Nora Gúnera, former first lady and first mayor of Tegucigalpa, from 1990 to 1994.
An efficient but discreet employee, he was part of subsequent municipal administrations, also being a federal deputy and minister of social investments.
In the 2013 general election, Asfura became mayor of the Central District, which includes Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela. His administration was characterized by the construction of road infrastructure works, which guaranteed his re-election in 2017. During this period, he earned the nickname “Papi, at your service” for his public works.
Despite projecting a modest and hard-working image, always dressed in jeans and rolled-up sleeves, he is under investigation, along with other former employees of his administration in the capital, for allegedly being part of a scheme to embezzle public resources and money laundering. The candidate stated that the actions against him are politically motivated and denies irregularities.
“Extremes don’t work,” he said during the campaign, when asked if he represents the ultra-right. “We need to seek balance (…) People don’t care if you’re ugly or pretty, if you’re left or right, green, red or blue; what they want are solutions.”
He said that private investment is necessary to move the country forward and that his political agenda is focused on employment, education and security.
Salvador Nasralla
The 72-year-old television presenter is running for the Liberal Party, a centrist movement that governed the country, in alternation with the National Party, from the end of the 19th century until 2022. He proposes the restoration of the rule of law and the fight against corruption.
After a career spanning more than 40 years on television and as an event presenter, Nasralla ran for president in 2013 for a party he helped found and came fourth.
He tried again in 2017, with a coalition of different parties, but lost again, this time coming in second place in a fierce election marred by accusations of fraud.
In 2022, he became Castro’s vice president, a position he resigned in 2024 to make a third run for president – this time for the Liberal Party.
He was born in Tegucigalpa on January 30, 1953, to a Honduran father and a Chilean mother of Lebanese descent. During his adolescence, he worked in radio journalism. He then went to live with relatives in Chile, where he studied Industrial Civil Engineering and obtained a master’s degree in Business Administration. Upon returning to Honduras, he became general manager of PepsiCo in the country and a university professor.
In 1981, he began his television career covering sports. A decade later, he launched “X-0 Gives Money”, a highly popular game show featuring cash prizes.
“My home is the Liberal Party,” said Nasralla upon joining the party in July 2024.
