Tight American election transfixes world, fuels fears over U.S. democracy

Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden, the rivals wrangling for leadership of the world's largest economy and its most powerful military, have presented contrasting visions for U.S. foreign policy. Trump has charted a more unilateral approach that has eschewed alliances and international agreements, while Biden has promised a return to America's more traditional role.

Which vision would win remained uncertain as viewers across the globe watched returns trickle in.

The close nature of the race may portend a world order in which Trumpism remains a major factor, some analysts said Wednesday. "The Americans did not, as many had hoped, forcefully reject Trumpism - even if Biden wins in the end," Clemens Wergin, the chief foreign correspondent for Germany's Die Welt newspaper, wrote in an op-ed.

In Mexico, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador declined to comment on the election, beyond noting that the Mexican economy had not been affected by the uncertainty. But analysts were stunned by Trump's strong showing. Alejandro Hope, a respected Mexican security analyst and columnist for the daily El Universal, said that whether Trump wins, the electoral results indicate that his ideology will remain a force in U.S. politics.

European media outlets led their websites with headlines suggesting that U.S. democracy is on the brink of collapse. The New Zealand Herald offered live coverages under the headline: "The Divided States of America."

"America looks into the abyss with close scrutiny and Trump's threat to go to the Supreme Court," read a headline in Spain's El País newspaper. An editorial in France's Le Monde newspaper compared Trump's comments on the election to those "common in authoritarian regimes."

Shortly after the president wrongly declared himself the winner and demanded that the count end with millions of votes still to be tabulated, German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer warned of the potential for a dire outcome.

"This is a situation that can lead to a constitutional crisis in the U.S.," she said on the German television channel ZDF. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that while voter turnout has been "historically high" - polarization has been, too.

The U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate accord took effect Wednesday. Biden has said he would seek to rejoin it. "Whoever is elected has an immense responsibility to help tackle our planet's greatest challenge," British Prime Minister Theresa May wrote.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Britain has full confidence in the U.S. system of checks and balances. "We need to be patient and wait and see who wins the US election," he tweeted. "Important the process is given sufficient time to reach a conclusion."

Colleagues to the north did not share that confidence. Nicola Sturgeon, first minister of Scotland, said that the hours and days ahead would be crucial "for the integrity of US democracy."

Penny Wong, a leading opposition lawmaker in Australia, urged that democracy be allowed to take its course and for all votes to be counted. "It's in Australia's interest that America remains a credible, stable democracy," she tweeted. Malcolm Turnbull, Australia's former conservative prime minister, urged: "Count every vote."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered a staid comment Wednesday, telling reporters in Ottawa that his government was "carefully" following the "electoral process" underway in the United States. A Globe and Mail columnist weighed in, writing that "it's hard to imagine many other advanced countries electing or coming within a hair of electing a president like Donald Trump."

In Turkey, for which the stakes are especially high due to Trump's nearly unflinching support for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government over the past few years, commentators awaited a clear outcome with keen interest. Under a Biden presidency, U.S. relations with Turkey could grow more "contentious," wrote Sedat Ergin, a columnist for the Hurriyet newspaper.

Nitzan Horowitz, a member of the Israeli parliament and head of the liberal Meretz party, decried Trump's claim of victory and threat to have the courts stop the count. Writing on Facebook, Horowitz likened the tactics to those of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a close Trump ally. "It's hard not to see the similarities between Trump and Netanyahu - the complete disregard for the rules of the game of democracy, the legal threat that hangs over them in case they lose, and the willingness to do anything, truly anything to win," he wrote.

Trump does have his supporters among world leaders, especially other right-wing populists, including the leaders of Slovenia and Hungary, who have expressed hopes for his reelection. "It's pretty clear that American people have elected @realDonaldTrump @Mike_Pence for #4moreyears," tweeted Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa.

But a top official in Hungary, another Trump-friendly European nation, voiced skepticism. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff on Wednesday said he is "pessimistic" about Trump's reelection chances, Politico Europe reported. Orban had been one of the few world leaders to endorse Trump publicly.

Far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro reiterated his support for Trump - but held back from weighing in on the outcome of the race, Reuters reported.

The protracted battle over results, along with some of Trump's statements, seem to have damaged the image of U.S. democracy in the eyes of many commentators and invited comparisons with disputed contests in developing nations.

In India, the world's largest democracy, in which hundreds of millions of votes were tallied within hours during last year's national elections, the slow counting drew some amused responses. "Looks like America needs to learn the art of counting from India," quipped a leading anchor. One journalist hailed India's election commission, an autonomous body tasked with conducting elections, and called the U.S. elections "shambolic."

Hours after Trump prematurely declared victory Wednesday morning, the U.S. Embassy in the Ivory Coast, which is also grappling with a contested election, posted a tweet urging leaders in the West African country to "show commitment to the democratic process."

"Trump is all about intimidation and tweets," said Sylvain N'Guessan, a political analyst in the country's commercial capital, Abidjan.

Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said the election proved that American democracy was not a standard to be followed, adding, "Nobody here would approve of such an approach."

Ming Jinwei, deputy foreign editor of China's state-run Xinhua News Agency, described the United States as a country "without hope."

One senior European security official said he feared that Russia and China would "misuse" the time before the inauguration if there is turbulence in Washington. "Everybody worries," the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss security concerns.

In Hong Kong, however, many pro-democracy activists who see the U.S. president as a key figure in their fight against Beijing are firmly behind another term for Trump. A group of Trump supporters in Hong Kong filmed a YouTube video in support of his campaign, saying Trump was the only one who could fight the Chinese Communist Party. A local YouTuber, who goes by the name Stormtrooper, told his 15,000 viewers that Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., would be more inclined to help the Chinese government than Trump would.

More than almost any other country, Iran can expect to see a divergence in U.S. foreign policy based on the election result. Under Trump, the United States pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal, which Biden has said he hopes to restore, and imposed crippling sanctions on the country.

"What a spectacle!" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's top leader, wrote on Twitter Wednesday. "One says this is the most fraudulent election in US history. Who says that? The president who is currently in office. His rival says Trump intends to rig the election! This is how #USElections & US democracy are."