How would the US election be viewed if it was happening in the developing world?

In a thread beginning days before election day, Kenyan journalist Patrick Gathara looked to spin the narrative on the US vote to one typically given around elections on the African continent.

Gathara tweeted on November 2 in his quasi-fictional thread: “African envoys have called for Americans to maintain peace during the elections and to be prepared to accept the outcome of the vote. In a joint statement, the diplomats condemned recent incidents of incitement, violence and intimidation directed at opposition supporters.”

Gathara has provided commentary every step of the way for the last few days, and you can read his take here.

Last month, the US state department sent out a press release supporting free, fair, inclusive elections in the upcoming election in Africa — without specifying any countries in a continent with over 50 nations.

“The conduct of elections is important not only for Africans, but also for defenders of democracy around the world. We believe all sides should participate peacefully in the democratic process. Repression and intimidation have no place in democracies,” the statement read.

“We will watch closely the actions of individuals who interfere in the democratic process and will not hesitate to consider consequences – including visa restrictions – for those responsible for election-related violence.”

The situation in the US escalated during a press conference called by Donald Trump on Friday, as counting of mail-in and absentee votes continued. He neglected to take any questions from reporters and falsely suggested the Democratic Party was trying to “steal an election” with illegal votes.

“We think there is going to be a lot of litigation as we have so much evidence, so much proof and it is going to end up perhaps at the highest court in the land. We will see. But we think there will be a lot of litigation,” Trump said.

“People know what is happening and they have seen what is happening. Incidents reported shortly. A tremendous investigation going on and this is a case where they are trying to steal an election, to rig an election and we cannot let that happen.”

No proof of his claims has been identified.

And on Thursday night, Trump tweeted “STOP THE COUNT” amid speculation that the final ballot count may lead to an unfavourable result for the incumbent president. And protests against counting all the ballots cast in the election have begun to breakout.

Is there hypocrisy in the US approach to elections abroad? 

Dr Jean-Claude Meledje is a politics expert in French-speaking Africa, and an Associate at the University of Canberra, Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis.

He believes the recent election in the Ivory Coast where incumbent president Alassane Ouattara ran for a third term, despite two-term limits in the country, has some similarities to the US election. Unlike the Ivory Coast, Donald Trump is contesting his second term which is perfectly in the rules, but his manner of contesting results before they arrive has sparked a lot of attention.

“Donald Trump is claiming victory before all the voting has been counted. So it’s exactly what’s been happening in the third world country,” Dr Meledje told Dateline.

“If Donald Trump is taking this approach I find it just unfair and irresponsible for the American ambassador in the Ivory Coast, telling the opposition to follow the constitution to follow the rules to not create violence, while at the same time Donald Trump in America is doing exactly the same.

“So I found that to be a contradiction in their approach that you’re advising someone to do something else. And then you’re doing exactly what you’re telling the person not to do.”

The Ivory Coast isn’t the only African country that’s been compared to what’s currently happening in the US.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted on November 3 that the US was deeply concerned about reports of “election irregularities” and violence during Tanzania’s elections a week ago.

“We urge authorities to fully address concerns of irregularities and will review allegations of the use of force against civilians,” Pompeo wrote on Twitter.

In response, lawyer Nyadol Nyuon wrote on Twitter: “We are deeply concerned with reports of election irregularities, politically motivated harassment, and violence during the United States of America’s election. We urge authorities to fully address concerns and not prematurely declare victory.”

That would have been reported as… ‘the President has barricaded himself in the presidential palace’.

These comments aren’t taking place in isolation.

Dr Jennifer Hunt is a Research Associate at the US Studies Centre. She believes if the US election was happening in another country there would be different language used to describe the same events.

Dr Hunt cites the fencing perimeter that was built around the White House on election day.

“I think that would have been reported, as you know, ‘the President has barricaded himself in the presidential palace, and has called on loyal supporters to uphold his victory’,” Dr Hunt told Dateline.

The US election and the Trump administration, Dr Hunt says, has hurt the reputation of the country as a “beacon of democracy”.

“We’ve seen some of those same democratic safeguards eroded within the United States. Interference within state-run elections, threats of litigation and encouragement of violence that vote counting be stopped that mail-in ballots are fraudulent, even when validly cast.”

Dr Hunt says the impact of Trump’s call to action has already been seen.

“During the lockdown [in Michigan] when Trump tweeted ‘liberate Michigan’, and then a group of militias took his command and advice, and were then arrested by the FBI on a plot to kidnap and try to execute the governor of Michigan the target of that tweet,” she said.

“So I think we’re seeing incredibly unprecedented language around violence and its use in this election, to help an embittered president retain power amid a popular backlash.”

However, Dr Hunt believes the issues within America’s democracy are much larger than one person.

“We see many members of this administration using the same language,” she said.

“The former White House chief strategist, Steve Bannon today [was] bemoaning that we can’t physically behead Dr Fauci and other quote, ‘disloyal federal employees and put their head on a spike as a warning to other federal employees’.”

A report by The Economist Intelligence Unit in 2017 designated the US for the first time as a ‘flawed democracy’ as opposed to a ‘full democracy’.

As all of this started to unfold in the hours following the closing of the ballots, John Lyons, the ABC’s head of investigations, took to Twitter to share his experiences as a foreign correspondent in Iran.

He said former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed an early victory before all the votes were counted.

“He stole the election. It led to horrible violence around Iran. The US and Australia condemned it. So who condemns it when it happens in the US?”