Mexico’s president refuses to congratulate Biden until legal challenges are exhausted

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says he wants to ‘wait until electoral process is over’

Mexico’s president has said he will not congratulate the winner of the US election until all the legal challenges are exhausted, attempting to walk a diplomatic tightrope that the rest of the world jumped off long before.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has taken immense care not to antagonise Donald Trump,  said on Saturday he was waiting for the full results.

“With regard to the US election, we are going to wait until all the legal matters have been resolved,” he said at a news conference.

“I can’t congratulate one candidate or the other. I want to wait until the electoral process is over.”

Mr Lopez Obrador’s stance puts him at odds with the leaders of many countries around the world – Israel, the UK, Spain, France, Australia and Canada among them – who have congratulated Joe Biden.

Benjamin Netanyahu, who’s Twitter page shows him meeting Mr Trump, was at particular pains to be diplomatic.

“Congratulations @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris,” he tweeted.

“Joe, we’ve had a long & warm personal relationship for nearly 40 years, and I know you as a great friend of Israel. I look forward to working with both of you to further strengthen the special alliance between the U.S. and Israel.”

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He then added: “Thank you@realDonaldTrump for the friendship you have shown the state of Israel and me personally, for recognizing Jerusalem and the Golan, for standing up to Iran, for the historic peace accords and for bringing the American-Israeli alliance to unprecedented heights.”

Mr Biden was declared the winner of the election on Saturday after a victory in the battleground state of Pennsylvania put him over the threshold of 270 Electoral College votes.

Mexico is the United States’ top trade partner, with over $600bn (£460bn) of annual two-way commerce, and the bilateral relationship with its northern neighbour is by far the most important for Mexico.

Mr Lopez Obrador, a wily Left-wing political veteran, said from the start of his presidency in 2018 that he aimed to establish a good working relationship with Washington. He refused to rise to Mr Trump’s taunts, and accepted some of his demands, such as the “remain in Mexico” policy which sees asylum seekers forced to wait in Mexico while their application is being considered. Critics say the policy violates human rights laws.

“President Trump has been very respectful with us,” said Mr Lopez Obrador. “And we are thankful that he has not meddled.”

Mr Trump has filed a raft of lawsuits to challenge the results, but electoral officials in states across the country say there has been no evidence of significant fraud, and legal experts say Mr Trump’s efforts are unlikely to succeed.

The Mexican president linked his caution to his own allegations of fraud in two presidential elections he contested, in 2006 and 2012, before winning on his third bid in 2018.

His reluctance to comment on the US results stands in contrast to congratulations offered to Bolivia’s former President Evo Morales last year, despite opposition claims of fraud in that re-election bid.

Mexican officials said the decision was borne of a desire to avoid provoking Mr Trump while he remained in the White House.

“Bolivia doesn’t have a 3,000-km border with Mexico,” an official said of the apparent contradiction. “It’s important to have a couple of months of peace and good neighbourly relations.”

Mr Lopez Obrador said he had a good relationship with both Mr Trump and Mr Biden, whom he said he had known for a decade.