While many leaders across the globe are congratulating the United States of America, US president-elect, Joe Biden, leaders of Russia, Mexico and Brazil refused to congratulate Biden until US President Donald Trump’s fate is concluded.
The boisterous US president is still fighting back even after Biden had convincingly paced him with massive votes. Trump claimed his votes were stolen and had commenced legal battle to ‘reclaim’ his alleged stolen mandate.
The Russian seat of power, Kremlin said it would wait for the official results of the US presidential election before commenting on its outcome, and that it had noted incumbent Donald Trump’s announcement of legal challenges related to the vote.
President Vladimir Putin has remained silent on the issue since Democrat Joe Biden was announced winner four days after the November 3 election, clearing the threshold of 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House.
Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Moscow deemed it better to now wait before congratulating anyone.
“We think it appropriate to wait for the official vote count,” said Mr Peskov.
President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil has also kept silent on Trump’s loss.
And Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador refused to congratulate Mr Biden, saying he would wait until the legal challenges over the vote were resolved.
The Brazil leader’s son Eduardo posted images on social media questioning how Mr Biden’s votes were rising so quickly in later counts, while Mr Trump’s weren’t.
The younger Bolsonaro also questioned networks’ decision to cut away from Trump’s speech on Wednesday alleging vote fraud, calling it an attack on freedom of speech.
Just south of the US, Mr López Obrador’s cordial relationship with Trump was often seen as unusual for a left-leaning politician but was steeped in realism.
In 2019, Mr Trump threatened to apply crippling tariffs on Mexican products unless Mr López Obrador cracked down on Central American migrants crossing Mexico to reach the US border. Mexico complied, rounding up migrants and busing them back to their home countries.
But there were also moments of seeming real friendship between the two. On the weekend, Mr López Obrador was one of the few world leaders still willing to heap praise on Trump.
“President Trump has been very respectful of us, and we have reached very good agreements, and we thank him because he has not interfered and has respected us,” the Mexican leader said.
Reuters/AP
