Obama says Trump attacking ‘fundamental principles of our democracy’ ahead of Georgia runoff election

Barack Obama urges Democrats to turn out for high-stakes Georgia Senate run-offs

Former US president Barack Obama shakes hands with Donald Trump during the inauguration at the US Capitol on January 20, 2017 (Getty Images)

Barack Obama has accused Donald Trump of “threatening the fundamental principles of democracy”, saying the stakes could not be higher in Tuesday’s runoff elections in Georgia.

The former president was speaking a day after a recording emerged of Mr Trump pressuring Georgia's top election official to “find” enough votes to change the result of the state’s presidential election in his favour. 

Mr Obama criticised his successor without naming him, rather by referring to his unrelenting efforts to overturn the results of November’s vote.

“Tomorrow is Election Day in Georgia and the stakes could not be higher,” Mr Obama said on Twitter on Monday. “We’re seeing how far some will go to retain power and threaten the fundamental principles of our democracy. But our democracy isn’t about any individual, even a president — it’s about you.”

Late on Sunday, Mr Trump’s phone call berating Georgia’s Republican election chief Brad Raffensperger was released by Washington Post. In it, the president asked Mr Raffensperger to “find” votes and threatened the official that he was taking “a big risk” in not pursuing Mr Trump’s false claims.

Following the release of the phone call, Mr Obama’s former attorney general Eric Holder shared a picture of the US Constitution, and a section which stipulates that the procurement of false votes by a federal official is a crime, punishable by up to five years in prison.

Though not in direct response to the former president’s tweet, Mr Trump countered Mr Obama on Twitter, saying: “We are not acting to thwart the Democratic process, we are acting to protect it.”

Mr Obama in his tweet also asked Georgia voters to respond with their “most powerful tool” by voting for the Democratic Senate candidates, the Rev Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, on Tuesday.

On 5 January, residents will vote again to decide who will control the Senate, which currently stands at 50 Republican seats and 48 held by Democrats. If Democrats take both Georgia seats the chamber will be tied, giving vice president Kamala Harris the deciding vote.

This would in turn make it easier for the new Biden administration to pursue major legislative reforms, cabinet appointments, potential presidential impeachments and nominations to the Supreme Court.

Democrats haven’t won a Senate race in Georgia in 20 years but they are hopeful of that changing as they were able to flip the state in the presidential election after a gap of 28 years.