Slovenia's PM apparently becomes first leader to back baseless Trump victory claim

‘It’s pretty clear that American people have elected Donald Trump,’ Janez Janša says as populist politicians say they back outgoing president

Slovenian prime minister Janez Janša appears to have become the first elected politician to back Donald Trump’s false claims that he has won the US presidential election.

With millions of votes still uncounted, the far-right Janša congratulated Trump prematurely.

“It’s pretty clear that American people have elected Donald Trump [and] Mike Pence for 4 more years,” he tweeted on Wednesday morning. “Congratulations GOP for strong results across the US.”

Janša also baselessly accused the nebulous “Militant Socialist Movement” of “delays” and “facts denying”.

Janša is a far-right politician who started his third term in March 2020 and has close ties with Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban. Both are fervent Trump supporters.

Several states are still too early to call in the US election, including the key battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania. The outcome of the election may not be known for hours or days when a handful of states finish counting.

Donald Trump nevertheless claimed victory, accusing his opposition of “fraud” and of seeking to “disenfranchise” the electorate. Mr Trump did not provide any evidence for his claims.

In an extraordinary move, he called on the US Supreme Court to intervene and stop the count of the outstanding ballots.

Populist politicians across Europe, including Matteo Salvini and Nigel Farage, said on Wednesday morning they backed Donald Trump, although they stopped short of congratulating him prematurely.

Speaking on Italian state broadcaster Rai3, the far-right Matteo Salvini said he hoped Trump would be re-elected and appeared to try to spin the close race in the US against the lockdowns introduced in some European countries.

“First of all it’s been a great demonstration of democracy and participation against fear and closures,” said Salvini, who has appeared on Italian television with “Trump2020” campaign face masks in the last few days.

“Whichever way it goes, it’s a success for democracy and a defeat for closures, fear and terror,” he said.

“All newspapers predicted a great Biden victory… as usual they didn’t get it right,” he later tweeted.

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said that it looked as if Donald Trump had won the US presidential election, although he said it was not yet certain.

“Once again Trump does confound the pollsters and mainstream media - it looks like Trump has won but it is not certain,” Farage said.

In Germany, support came from the co-chairman of the far-right AfD, Tino Chrupalla, who said Trump had “enlivened” democracy despite resistance and censorship by the “establishment”, but did not openly back him.

Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Brazilian far-right President Jair Bolsonaro have not commented on the US election so far. 

Bolsonaro, whom some refer to as the “Trump of the Tropics” has made no secret that he would prefer Trump to win and has worn “Trump 2020” hats in public in the past.

“I hope, if it is God's will, to appear at the inauguration of the president soon to be reelected in the US,” Bolsonaro said with a smile on 20 October. “I don't need to hide that. It's from the heart.”

But Reuters reports that top aides advised Bolsonaro not to say anything until the result was definitive.

It’s not unusual for vote tabulations to continue beyond Election Day in the US. Individual states largely set the rules for when the count has to end.

Several newspapers and experts had warned that the vote would be slower than usual and last several days this year.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, many states made it easier to vote by mail, and millions of Americans chose to do so rather than venturing out to cast ballots in person. That meant a slowdown in the tabulation of results because votes received by mail often take longer to process than ballots cast at polling places.

The US has had presidential races without an immediate winner not long ago. In 2000, a Supreme Court ruling on 12 December ended a recount in Florida and awarded the presidency to Republican George W Bush over Democrat Al Gore. It was two months and five days after Election Day.

Additional reporting by AP and Reuters