Africa watches as Biden edges towards victory

Joe Biden is edging towards victory over Donald Trump in the US presidential election as crucial states Pennsylvania and Georgia continue to count mail-in ballots. 

By Friday, the presidency appeared to be within the challenger’s grasp as the counting of mail-in ballots allowed Biden to pass Trump in Georgia and whittle away the incumbent’s slender lead in Pennsylvania. 

In a White House speech early on Friday, Trump again repeated his claims of rampant voter fraud and “historic election interference from big media, big money, and big tech” without providing evidence.

Trump declared victory as early as Wednesday morning after securing the Republican heartlands of Texas and Florida, but Biden has eaten into his lead as mail-in votes have been counted, and is now increasingly confident of reaching the 270 electoral college votes required. Trump has insisted that he will challenge the results – which he called “a fraud on the American public”  – at the Supreme Court, but a number of legal challenges have already been thrown out in contested states.

Biden insisted in a speech on Wednesday evening that he is on track for victory. 

“And now after a long night of counting, it’s clear that we’re winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. I’m not here to declare that we’ve won, but I am here to report when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners,” said Biden. 

“Virtually all the remaining ballots to be counted are cast by mail. And we’ve been winning 78% of the votes by mail in Pennsylvania. We flipped Arizona and the second district of Nebraska. Of special significance to me is that we’ve won with the majority of the American people.”

Africa watches

The contested poll in the world’s most powerful economy is being eagerly watched in Africa, which in recent weeks has played host to controversial polls in Tanzania and Côte d’Ivoire. Since assuming the presidency, Trump’s administration has seen the continent as a battleground in its contest with China and has repeatedly lashed out at Beijing’s political and commercial influence in African states.

In December 2018, Trump’s then national security advisor John Bolton articulated the administration’s Africa strategy, which he said would “put the interests of the American people first, at home and abroad” by boosting US trade and commercial ties on the continent, reprioritising aid, and thwarting the African ambitions of a “predatory” China.   

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has frayed ties with Africa by blocking the election of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the first African director-general of the World Trade Organization. 

David Thomas