Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison says he has great confidence in American institutions to deal with the challenges posed by Donald Trump calling for the vote count to be stopped.
Asked on Thursday whether he believed Trump was trying to undermine democracy with his unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud and the attempts to stop the vote count, Morrison pointed to his cordial relationship with the Republican incumbent, and said Australia was not a participant in the presidential election, it was “a partner with the United States”.
“We respect the decisions that the American people make in their democracy and we’ll be patient and we’ll await the outcome of their process,” the prime minister told reporters in Sydney.
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“It’s not for me to run a commentary on those things and I won’t,” Morrison said.
“I work with the president of the United States as the prime minister of Australia, and I enjoy a very productive working relationship with the president, and I will always put Australia’s interest first in that relationship.”
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Asked by a reporter how concerned he was about the attempt to stop the vote count in one of the greatest democracies in the world, Morrison backed American institutions to weather any political crisis.
“The great thing about the United States, it is a great democracy and it does have great institutions and we have a deep and wide relationship with the United States which is incredibly important to Australia,” he said.
“We are both like-minded and like in so many ways – our values, our partnerships, economics, security … and I have great confidence in the democracy of the United States and I have great confidence in their institutions, and the thing about great institutions and democracies is they deal with whatever challenges come, just like our own does.”
Morrison pointed to the record voter turnout in the contest as evidence democracy in the US was not imperilled. “A great democracy, having a great election with the greatest turnout it’s ever seen in its history is actually a demonstration of democracy working.”
Australia’s foreign minister, Marise Payne, was more direct on Thursday. She said all votes in the contest should be counted, and it was her expectation that would be the case.
“There have been hotly contested and difficult elections in the US before, but those systems and processes that are in place have always ensured that every vote is counted, and they should be, and I’m sure that they will deliver an outcome,” Payne said.
“What is important is that every vote is counted. And I’m sure that they will be. I’m absolutely confident that they will be.”
Trump’s baseless declaration on Wednesday night that there had been electoral fraud in the contest, his call for the vote count to stop, and the foreshadowing of supreme court action, triggered alarm in Australia and around the world.
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Australia’s shadow foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, rebuked Trump without naming him, and said American voters “deserve to have their voices heard”.
“Americans have voted in historic numbers in this election,” the Labor senator said. “They deserve to have their voices heard. The democratic process must be respected, even when it takes time. It’s in Australia’s interest that America remains a credible, stable democracy.”
The Labor leader Anthony Albanese adopted a similar diplomatic line about the strength of American institutions to Morrison when he addressed reporters in Sydney on Thursday.
“I’m very confident that American institutions and, indeed, the American people will come through this,” the Labor leader said. “Of course everyone would like to see results clearly on election night, but often that doesn’t happen.”
But the Labor leader was more direct on social media. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re the world’s oldest democracy or the world’s youngest, the people’s right to be heard must be respected – and the democratic process must be allowed to run its course.”
“Australia should always speak out on the democratic values we hold dear.”
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