Trump tries to delay US election

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has called for an unprecedented delay to the November 2020 election – which polls show him losing – but the suggestion was instantly attacked by both sides and has virtually no chance of being accepted.

Mr Trump, who will go up against Democrat Joe Biden on November 3, has no constitutional authority to change the date, which is set by law.

His repeated airing of the idea added to the tensions in a country ravaged by the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and set on edge by bitterly partisan politics.

Mr Trump’s rationale is his claim – which is not backed by any evidence – that largescale use of mail-in voting as a way to protect voters during the pandemic would lead to vote tampering and fraud.

Mail-in voting will make it “the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history,” he wrote in a tweet.

“Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”

Later, at a press conference, he again sought to cast doubt on the entire election.

“Do I want to see a date change? No. But I don’t want to see a crooked election. This election will be the most rigged election in history if that happens,” he said.

Mr Trump (pictured) fired his initial tweet minutes after second-quarter data showed a 32.9 per cent annualised collapse in the economy compared to the first quarter, and down 9.5 per cent compared to the same April-June period last year.

Economic pain and mass unemployment, together with what critics call incompetent management of the coronavirus crisis, are two of the main reasons Mr Trump is lagging in the opinion polls and facing a humiliating defeat in just three months’ time.

“Trump’s threat is nothing more than a desperate attempt to distract,” the Democratic National Committee said in a statement.

“Trump can tweet all he wants, but the reality is that he can’t delay the election, and come November voters will hold him accountable.”

Presidential elections are scheduled by law to take place on the first Tuesday after November 1. The US has never allowed a delay.