As of yesterday, the result of the American presidential election was poised on a knife edge. A final result in favour of President Trump or Joe Biden might delay as postal votes are counted.
Many of those postal votes will be Democratic and could erode early Trump leads in various states. On Wednesday President Trump already alleged that the Democrats were trying to steal the election.
Africa has suffered greatly from contested election results that deny legitimacy to the victor and leave the loser feeling aggrieved. Sometimes in Africa elections are indeed rigged or stolen but often genuine victories are disputed by the losing side that continues to believe it was robbed.
The United States should not follow into this trap of denigrating the election process so that no-one knows what to believe.
Every election system has imperfections but in general the American system is transparent, accountable and visible to all. The final result will surely reflect the will of the people.
So, the United States should not slip into the quicksand of violent demonstrations against the results that are not what was expected. Nothing good can come of that.
Quote of the day: "Liberty for wolves is death to the lambs."
Isaiah Berlin
The English historian died on November 5, 1997
