Salvador Nasralla

Salvador Alejandro César Nasralla Salum (born 30 January 1953) is a Honduran sports journalist, television presenter, businessman, and politician who has served as the First Vice President of Honduras since 27 January 2022.

He is the presenter of the TV programs ''5 Deportivo'' and ''X-0 da Dinero'', and has been called "El señor de la televisión". He was the founder of the Anti-Corruption Party in 2011 when he stood for president in the 2013 Honduran general election. He stood again in the 2017 Honduran general election for the political alliance ''Alianza de Oposición contra la Dictadura'', made up of Liberty and Refoundation and the Innovation and Unity Party but narrowly lost to incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernández, despite widespread claims of fraud and irregularities.

Early life

Nasralla was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. His parents, Alejandro Nasralla and Alicia Salum, are Palestinian and his mother was born in Chile. He spent his childhood in the northern city of Trujillo, Colón. At the age of eleven, his family returned to Tegucigalpa. There, he attended his secondary studies at Instituto San Francisco and obtained his high school diploma. During his adolescence he began being a journalist, working at Emisoras Unidas from 1966 to 1969, and in Uniradio and Radio Católica. He also took classes of drama and television.

After high school, Nasralla was sent to live with his extended family in Chile. There, he attended the Catholic University of Chile where he graduated with honors. He obtained a degree in Civil Industrial Engineering and a Master of Business Administration.

Professional career

After returning from Chile, Nasralla became the CEO of Pepsi Honduras. He also became a professor at the National Autonomous University of Honduras where he gave lectures on business and engineering.

In 1981, he started his career in television.

Political career

Nasralla has been harshly critical of the Honduran government since the 1980s. In particular, he has pinpointed the widespread corruption at the highest levels of government as the main cause of the problems that afflict Honduran society.

Due to the increasing deterioration of the living conditions of the majority Hondurans as a result of the perceived indifference and/or incompetence of traditional politicians, Nasralla and other members of the civil society decided to establish a new political party. Therefore, in 2013 the Anti-Corruption party was founded and registered by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal so that Nasralla could participate in the 2013 presidential election. He received 418.443 votes, 13.43% of the total.

2017 election

In the 2017 presidential election he represented the left-wing coalition, gaining only slightly less votes than the incumbent winner. Despite allegations of widespread irregularities, the United States recognised the reelection of President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

2021 election

Nasralla entered the race for president of Honduras again in 2021, but as a candidate for the Savior Party. However, he later dropped out and became the running mate of LIBRE party nominee and former first lady Xiomara Castro. They went on to win the election. Nasralla assumed office as First Vice President on 27 January 2022.

2022 Congressional leadership dispute

One of the agreements for Nasralla to end his presidential campaign and endorse Castro’s was that if they were able to gain a majority in Congress, the congressional president would be a member of the Savior Party. Castro’s Libre party won 50 seats, whilst Nasralla’s Savior party won 10. When the newly elected congress voted for a congressional president on 21 January 2022, 18 deputies from Castro’s party refused to honour the agreement. Instead, they voted for Luis Cálix, a member of Libre, rather than Luis Redondo from Nasralla’s party as the Savior and the rest of the Libre deputies had done. Nasralla commented on the incident as "another coup like in 2009". As a consequence, the 18 deputies were expelled from Libre. The dispute was resolved when Calíx and the expelled Libre deputies agreed to support Redondo. Their membership of Libre was restored when Castro reversed their expulsion.

Personal life

He is married to former beauty queen Iroshka Elvir and they have one daughter, born in December, 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nasralla, Salvador
1953 births
Candidates for President of Honduras
Honduran people of Palestinian descent
Honduran politicians
Honduran television journalists
Living people
Male journalists
People from Tegucigalpa
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile alumni
Vice presidents of Honduras