US President, Donald Trump has declined to commit to a peaceful transfer of power should he lose the November elections to Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, amid claims that mail-in ballots are vulnerable to fraud.
“We’re going to have to see what happens,” Trump said. “You know that I have been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster.
“You get rid of the ballots, you’ll have a very peaceful, there won’t be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation,” he said. “The ballots are out of control, you know it, and you know who knows it better than anybody else, the Democrats know it, better than anybody else.”
Mr Trump also said he believed the election result could end up in the US Supreme Court therefore defending his decision to seek the appointment of a new Supreme Court justice before the presidential election.
“I think will end up in the Supreme Court, and I think it’s very important that we have nine justices,” the president said.
“I think it’s better if you go before the election, because I think this scam that the Democrats are pulling, it’s a scam, the scam will be before the United States Supreme Court.”
The president has said he will name a female nominee for the court on 26th September to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last on 18th September.
Mr Trump’s supporters hope his nominee, if confirmed by the US Senate, will cement a 6-3 conservative ascendancy on the nation’s highest court for the foreseeable future.
More states are encouraging mail-in voting, in order to keep Americans safe from coronavirus, against the President’s wishes as he maintains mail-in ballots are vulnerable to fraud.
President Trump refused to commit to accepting the election results when he contested against democratic candidate, Hilary Clinton in the 2016 election, a feat the former first lady at the time characterized as an attack on democracy.
Mrs Clinton has urged Mr Biden this time not to concede defeat “under any circumstances” in a close race on election night. She also raised the scenario that Republicans would try “messing up absentee balloting” and mobilise an army of lawyers to contest the result.
Speaking to reporters in Delaware, Mr Biden said President’s Trump’s comments on the transition of power were “irrational”.
His campaign said it was prepared for any “shenanigans” from the president and has added top lawyers to his staff ramping up for “the largest voter protection program in presidential election history”
The Democrat’s team added that “the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House”.
Ellen Weintraub, commissioner of the Federal Election Commission, has said “there’s simply no basis for the conspiracy theory that voting by mail causes fraud,” and expects the number of postal votes to rise significantly this time round due to public health concerns over coronavirus.
In previous elections, losing presidential candidates have conceded even when the electoral results were very tight.
These include 1960 when John F Kennedy narrowly beat Richard Nixon and in 2000 when George W Bush beat Al Gore in Florida.
