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– Watching Trump’s speech was like watching a horror movie. This was the worst that could happen. We are in a situation where Trump claims to have won and in practice tries to take the right to vote from hundreds of thousands of voters who have not yet counted their votes, says SV leader Audun Lysbakken, who gives the following verdict:
– This is something that authoritarian leaders do, something that undemocratic bullies do. We have witnessed a moment that shows that the United States is in a deep, deep crisis, which calls speech a recipe for chaos and unrest.
Uncertain for Norway
In Trump’s speech at the White House on election night, he declared himself the winner of several states, although the result was far from clear. He also made undocumented accusations of fraud and cheating.
– The big question for us in Norway is whether it is safe and prudent to link our security and political course so closely with a country that is so unpredictable, unstable and politically polarized.
– Dictator alarm
Jette Christensen of the Labor Party also reacts.
– If the ruling party in the country Georgia had said what Trump says now, the dictatorial alarms would have gone off and Russian tanks and democratic protesters would have fought for a place in the streets, writes Jette Christensen of the Labor Party on Facebook.
Christensen is in the former Georgian Soviet Republic as an electoral observer by virtue of being a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
– A leader who questions the electoral institute in this way does not belong to a democratic system, he emphasizes.
Labor leader Jonas Gahr Støre is not that tough, but he calls the situation dire.
– Trump’s speech surprised me. There was no jubilant president who declared victory, he was quite ugly and angry with the whole situation and wanted to take into account the judicial system. That he doubts that the votes cast should be counted is serious in a democracy. Those who cast their vote before the venue closes must count their votes, he says.
Norwegian election observers are also on the move in the United States. Kari Henriksen of the Labor Party leads a corps of 60 election observers.
She reacts harshly to President Donald Trump’s speech earlier today, proclaiming himself the winner of the election and making undocumented accusations of fraud and cheating.
– In a democracy, it is a prerequisite that all votes are counted. I realize that in the media channels around here there is little focus on his speech and the count is in full swing. All the media that I have heard have pointed out that there is no winner. Journalists and a Facebook representative who participated in our hearings were concerned that they would not contribute to announcing the winners until the count is over, Henriksen tells Dagbladet.
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– The last thing we need
Left-wing leader and Minister of Education Guri Melby commented on the presidential election just before President Donald Trump took the floor. He then told Dagbladet that it had gotten smoother than most had anticipated.
– There is a great responsibility on the two candidates now and how they behave, especially when there are such consistent results that they can end in a lawsuit. The last thing we need now is a long tug of war about who will become president, Melby said.
Now it may appear that it will be exactly what we get. However, the Liberal leader was confident that the United States would stand up to this.
– It is a country with strong democratic institutions. They have endured demanding times before, with consistent results that have ended up in the courtroom. I trust they can do this now too.
Former Liberal Party leader Trine Skei Grande says she felt cold in her column when she heard Trump’s speech.
– All votes count, also in the United States. Trump’s speech earlier today was not worthy of a democratically elected leader, he writes on Twitter. V
– Have confidence
Prime Minister Erna Solberg declined to comment on the presidential election until the result is available.
Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide is also a diplomat:
– The United States has a 200-year history of holding democratic elections, including very regular elections. And I am confident that the institutions will also make this happen this time, he says in a statement to NRK.
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She says that the Norwegian authorities are closely monitoring the elections.
– States have their processes to decide which voters to send to. Those processes are happening now. As expected, it is a very even choice. We have planned for both outcomes and will work well with whoever becomes president, be it a continuous Trump term or a Biden term, he says.
