PARIS, Nov 5, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – From warnings to good wishes and mockery, governments
around the world have reacted very differently to the hotly-contested US election race
between US President Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden as votes continue to be
counted.
Here is a selection:
– Russian red rag? –
“Everything that concerns our country is seen in the United States like a red rag to a
bull,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told reporters on Thursday. “That’s why we won’t
make any comment. Americans probably need to put some order in their own affairs
themselves.”
He added, however, that the uncertainty linked to the election results in the world’s
biggest economy “could potentially have negative consequences for the world, above all for
the global economy”.
– Iranian irony –
“What a spectacle!” Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tweeted Wednesday. “One
says this is the most fraudulent election in US history. Who says that? The president who
is currently in office.”
– Observers offended –
The head of an international observer mission to the US elections accused Trump of a
“gross abuse of office” after the US president called the polls a fraud and demanded that
vote counting be halted.
“The most disturbing thing was that with presidential fanfare of the White House, that is,
with all the insignia of power, the American commander-in-chief called for an end to the
count because of his purported victory,” Michael Link from the Organization for Security
and Co-operation in Europe told the German daily Stuttgarter Zeitung.
– Brazilian bias –
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he hoped Trump would win.
The far-right leader, who has been dubbed a “Tropical Trump,” has cultivated a close
relationship with the Republican president.
“You know where I stand, I’ve been clear. I have a good relationship with Trump. I hope
he’ll be reelected,” Bolsonaro told supporters on Wednesday.
– Balanced Britain –
Britain insisted its close partnership with the United States was in safe hands whoever
came out on top — Trump or Democrat challenger Biden.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a populist ally of Trump, refused to be drawn in parliament
when grilled about the Republican’s premature claim of victory.
But Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: “I’m not worried about the relationship.”
– EU worries –
Spain’s Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya underlined the importance of respecting
institutions.
“There are many populists who don’t like institutions,” she said Thursday. “I’m not
speaking here about the United States, but populists in general around the world. That’s
why it is so important to protect our institutions… because ultimately they are the
guarantors of our democracy.”
German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said Wednesday the United States was
facing a “very explosive situation” and a possible systemic crisis.
– French agenda –
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian reinforced recent statements from Paris that
the nature of US-EU relations had permanently changed under Trump.
Europe needs to build a “new transatlantic relationship, which is a new partnership”
irrespective of who wins, he said Thursday.
France under President Emmanuel Macron is keen for Europe to move away from its reliance
on American military might for defence in particular.
– Melania admirer –
Ignoring the caution of his EU colleagues, the prime minister of Melania Trump’s homeland
— Slovenia — went out on a limb Wednesday to congratulate Trump for winning re-election.
“It’s pretty clear that American people have elected Donald Trump and Mike Pence for four
more years,” Janez Jansa wrote on Twitter.
Jansa, along with Hungary’s Prime Minister Victor Orban, was one of the few EU leaders to
endorse Trump’s candidacy, and said Biden would be “one of the weakest US presidents in
history”.