REUTERS Fredy Rodriguez
TEGUCIGALPA, Nov 26, Reuters - If he wants to extend the Honduran conservatives' dozen years in power, Tegucigalpa Mayor Nasry Tito Asfura must overcome the unpopularity of the outgoing president, a deep economic slump in the Central American nation.
A poll shows the two-term mayor of the ruling National Party trailing his main rival, leftist candidate Xiomara Castro, who hopes Sunday's general elections will propel her to become the country's first female president and end a decades-long duopoly in Honduras. Asfura said he has traveled more than 40,000 kms and 25,000 miles over the course of the campaign, and he hopes to convince Hondurans that despite being dogged by allegations of his own corrupt acts, he can offer a clean break from the scandal-ridden tenure of outgoing President Juan Orlando Hernandez.
At a recent rally, Asfura said Hernandez has aided drug traffickers and the conviction of his younger brother TonyHernandez earlier this year in a New York courtroom on charges he helped run a massive drug racket. Juan Orlando Hernandez denied all of the allegations that he has participated in graft.
The 63-year-old Asfura is the son of Palestinian immigrants who fled their homeland after the start of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the 1940s.
Asfura, known as Papi a la orden, or Daddy at your service, studied civil engineering and worked for decades as a businessman in the construction industry.
He began working in the public service in the 1990s and was elected first mayor of Tegucigalpa in 2013.
Asfura has not presented a detailed campaign platform, but he pledged to boost road infrastructure and create jobs at its rallies. He has also said he will support education, health, small and medium-sized businesses, as well as the manufacturing industry.
With work, work, and a lot of effort, we are going to move Honduras forward," he told supporters at a rally, clad in a light blue shirt with rolled up sleeves, jeans and work boots.
The mayor has been plagued by a series of allegations of corruption despite his popularity in Tegucigalpa for his public works projects.
The Specialized Fiscal Unit Against Corruption Networks Uferco filed a petition in 2020 for a preliminary decision against Asfura and Councilman Nilvia Castillo, accusing the two of diverting $1.2 million of public funds for their own benefit between 2017 and 2018.
The case was stalled after the Supreme Court's criminal chamber - controlled by allies of the outgoing president - ruled in favor of the defense's appeal citing procedural errors.
In October, Asfura's name appeared as the owner of a company registered in the Pandora Papers in Panama, a massive leak of confidential financial records revealing assets held offshore by politicians and public officials worldwide.
Asfura has denied all allegations of corruption.
Asfura can't and will not want corruption to be investigated and fought, said Eugenio Sosa, a sociologist and professor at the National Autonomous University of Honduras.
He said that the group of people who will govern Honduras if he is president is the same group that has built a scheme of impunity.