The leaders of several foreign countries including Russia and Brazil have yet to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden for winning the presidential election, citing desires to wait until “official” results are released.
Leaders of China, Russia, Brazil and Mexico have all delayed statements congratulating Biden, who was projected as the winner by a number of U.S. news associations after he took a substantial lead in Pennsylvania, according to the Associated Press and Reuters.
Biden has also been declared as the winner of Nevada by a number of networks and as the winner of Arizona by Fox News.
He is in the lead in all of those states as well as Georgia.
“We think it appropriate to wait for the official vote count,” said Kremlin spokesman Dimitry Peskov, according to Reuters. “President Putin has repeatedly said he will show respect for whatever choice the American people makes.”
“We noticed that Mr. Biden has declared election victory,” added a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, Reuters also reported. “We understand that the U.S. presidential election result will be determined following U.S. law and procedures.”
Brazil is led by Jair Bolsonaro, who is seen as an ally of President Trump’s.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been a character throughout the Trump years after Russia was found by U.S. intelligence officials to have interfered in the 2016 campaign to help Trump and hurt Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Mexico’s government has not yet commented on the U.S. presidential election, though President Andrés Manuel López Obrador praised the president during comments Saturday, according to the AP.
“President Trump has been very respectful of us, and we have reached very good agreements, and we thank him because he has not interfered and has respected us,” he reportedly said.
Trump himself has refused to concede last week’s election amid the counting of mail-in ballots in a few remaining key battleground states, and vowed legal challenges.
Outside experts see Trump’s efforts as having little chance of success since there has been no real evidence of substantial fraud in this election.