The U.S. congratulates Xiomara Castro as the new president of Honduras

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken congratulated leftist Xiomara Castro on Tuesday as “president-elect” of Honduras after the ruling party acknowledged their defeat in the presidential elections.

Xiomara Castro is the wife of the former president  of Honduras and Hugo Chavez’s ally, Manuel Zelaya. She belongs to the Libertad y Refundación party.

“We congratulate Hondurans for the high voter turnout, peaceful participation, and active civil society engagement that marked this election, signaling an enduring commitment to the democratic process,” he said in a press statement.

The United States looks forward to working hand in hand with the new Honduran president "to strengthen democratic institutions, promote inclusive economic growth, and fight corruption," said Blinken.

The Honduran people exercised their power to vote in a free and fair election. We congratulate them and President Elect @XiomaraCastroZ and look forward to working together to strengthen democratic institutions, promote inclusive economic growth, and fight corruption.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) December 1, 2021

State Department spokesman Ned Price also congratulated Castro on her victory, adding that "Honduras' peaceful elections demonstrate the civic pride and democratic vocation of its people."

Mayor of Tegucigalpa Nasry Asfur, who also was a candidate for the presidency of Honduras for the ruling party, acknowledged her defeat this Tuesday night against Castro.

By Wednesday morning, only 53.2% of the votes counted. Xiomara Castro obtained 53.49% of the votes, while Nasry Asfura, of the National Party of Honduras, obtained 34% of the votes, according to the National Electoral Council.

The results of the election have been slow because many of the ballots arrive in physical form and need to be entered into the system manually. The first half of the votes entered and counted were in digital format, detailed the CNE.