US election: hint of schadenfreude as European Union watches democracy at work in Trump’s America

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas hopeful the West can play as a team again once the US election is over

Regardless of who becomes president, the US will not lecture others on elections, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says

Reading Time:3 minutes

European politicians have criticised Donald Trump for his allegations about voter fraud in the US presidential election. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:01pm, 6 Nov 2020Updated: 11:34pm, 6 Nov 2020

European politicians and citizens looked on with shock and mockery as Donald Trump threatened to stop votes in the United States presidential election from being counted.

After years of animosity between Trump’s White House and the European Union, including its biggest economy Germany, there is a sense of concealed excitement among Europeans about possible victory by the Democratic Party challenger, Joe Biden.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas was among the highest profile officials from across the Atlantic to intervene – and he spoke out twice, on Thursday and Friday – as the final result remained unknown.

“What is happening in America does not quite correspond to the democratic culture we know from the United States. It is important that the result is then accepted by everyone,” Maas tweeted on Thursday, before Trump made his remarks that “if you count the legal votes, I easily win”.

Maas added in the tweet: “It’s easy to be a winner, but sometimes it’s hard to be a loser,” in an echo of comments Trump made to his staff on election day.