Politics
As Biden Wins US Election, world looks at how new White House will shift policies
As Joe Biden becomes victorious in the US presidential election, the focus among America’s friends and rivals around the world turned to predicting what a Democratic administration would mean for their engagement with the United States. On Saturday, foreign leaders still largely refrained from commenting on the contest or congratulating Biden in the absence of a final vote tally
Here are the latest developments:
- Newspapers across the globe declared an almost-certain Biden victory, declining to wait for most major U.S. media outlets to call it.
- Most world leaders say they will work with whoever wins the White House, though most stopped short of offering congratulations before the count is settled.
- President Trump continued to make unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud, retweeting misleading claims about the integrity of the vote count.
- Trump’s far-right allies, notably Brexit party leader Nigel Farage, encouraged him to keep up the fight and railed against mail-in ballots.
- The prime minister of Fiji was among the first leaders to publicly congratulate Biden, saying he hoped for greater U.S. action on climate change.
With Joe Biden in the driver’s seat to win the presidency, countries around the world looked ahead to what a Democratic administration would mean for them. Many hope the period of American isolationism and country-first populism under President Trump will give way to an era of renewed U.S. global leadership and embrace of multilateralism to tackle common challenges.
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison, when asked Saturday about the relationship with a future Biden administration, said the Australia-U. S. alliance is “bigger than any one individual.” Morrison, a conservative, said he would wait for the vote count to be over and then get on with working with Washington. Morrison and Trump have long been close. In 201
Frank Bainimarama, the prime minister of Fiji, was among the first to congratulate Biden outright, saying in a tweet that they must work together to confront a warming planet and rebuild the global economy.
“Now, more than ever, we need the USA at the helm of these multilateral efforts (and back in the #ParisAgreement — ASAP!),” he wrote.
As the Democratic candidate extended his vote lead in key battleground states, newspapers around the world began analyzing the policy implications under a Biden administration. Others continued to focus on the battered image of American democracy — sometimes with open glee
“Who’s the Banana Republic now?” Publimetro, a Colombian daily newspaper, asked on its front page.
The Times of India, which effectively declared Biden the winner with the headline ” Bye Don, Its Biden Finally,” said that H1-B work visas — allowing nonimmigrants to work in the United States — are unlikely to return in their previous scale or numbers, even if the Biden administration has a more favorable immigration policy. But it noted that the Democrats could be stronger on human rights violations in India. The newspaper also described celebrations in Sen. Kamala D. Harris’ ancestral village in southern India — the birthplace of her maternal grandfather — where residents were feeling festive ahead of the traditional Diwali celebrations.
In China, relations with the United States have plummeted to their lowest ebb in 40 years amid bitter disputes over trade, technology, human rights and the coronavirus pandemic. But hopes have been stirred that, despite fundamental differences, a Biden win might act as a circuit-breaker and offer a window for cooperation in certain areas.
From Beijing’s perspective, “a Biden presidency is more likely to put a floor under the current free-fall in relations, judging by his recent remarks on China and those of his foreign policy advisers,” wrote Wang Xiangwei, a columnist and editorial adviser at the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post. Chinese officials, he said, are hoping for at least a short-term respite to the vitriol that has dominated Sino-U. S. relations under Trump.
Still, an-op-ed in the nationalistic Global Times tabloid noted deep partisan divisions in the United States that it said would not be easily eased.
“The U.S. will remain united from outside but divided from within, no matter who is president,” wrote Zhang Jiadong, a professor at the Center for American Studies at Fudan University.
Iranian officials have largely avoided commenting on the election impasse and its possible implications for U.S. policies, such as the future of economic sanctions and the fate of the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama-Biden administration. Trump withdrew from the pact two years ago and has stepped up sanctions on Tehran.
“For us, the individual and the party are not important; rather, what matters is the policies to be adopted by the U.S. government,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhan said saturday. Rouhani has urged the U.S. to return to its commitments under the nuclear deal, known officially as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and rejected Trump’ calls to renegotiate it.
The Chairman of Tehran’s City Council, Mohsen Hashemi Rafsanjani, on Saturday congratulated the family of Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, who was killed in a U.S. military drone strike in January near Baghdad. Rafsanjani said the targeted killing helped cause “Trump’s heavy defeat,” BBC Persian reported.
Iranians, battered by an economic crisis alongside the coronavirus, have been following the election with intense scrutiny. Aftab-e Yazd, an Iranian reformist newspaper, declared on its Saturday front page: “A world without Trump.”
The global pandemic added urgency to Biden’s pledge to reverse Trump’s approach, which has left the United States estranged from the World Health Organization and facing the highest numbers of deaths and new cases at home.
After Trump withdrew from the World Health Organization — in protest of what he claim was a bias toward China — Biden this summer pledged to rejoin the U.N.’s health agency on his first day in office. Biden is a “globalist at heart,” wrote Natasha Kassam a research fellow at Sydney’s Lowy Institute political think tank, in the Guardian.
“When it comes to global public health,” she added, “America has literally left the building.”
Expired Mandates Must Go: A Call for Rebirth in the People’s Democratic Party
By George Omagbemi Sylvester
In a country grappling with the deepest crises of its post-independence history, ranging from economic despair to democratic regression, there is no space for expired mandates or recycled leadership. Yet, within the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), both at home and in the diaspora, many individuals who have long outlived their political relevance continue to occupy leadership positions. These individuals, once symbols of hope, have now become obstacles to progress, clinging to power not for service but for self-preservation.
The time has come to say it clearly and without apology: they must go. Nigeria cannot afford another electoral cycle wasted on nostalgia and recycled strategies. The PDP must embark on a painful but necessary ideological and structural rebirth. If we are to remain a viable political force capable of saving Nigeria from the catastrophic misrule of the All Progressives Congress (APC), then we must begin by purging our ranks of dead weight.
When Leadership Becomes Liability
True leadership is tested not during times of ease, but in moments of national adversity. Sadly, during some of Nigeria’s darkest moments, when the people needed courage, clarity and conviction, many of the PDP’s so-called leaders were either silent, complicit or comfortably absent. While Nigerians suffered the brunt of failed policies, currency freefall, widespread kidnappings and systemic corruption under APC rule since 2015, these leaders were either engaged in backdoor negotiations or gracing dinners hosted by the same regime they were elected to challenge.
This betrayal is not merely political; it is moral. The PDP was founded as a platform for justice, inclusion and national development. Its current condition, tainted by the complicity and cowardice of career politicians, is a disgrace to that vision. Rather than resist tyranny, these political merchants have preferred transactional alliances, preferring personal gain over public good.
Opposition Is Not a Hobby: It Is a Calling
Politics in a democracy, especially from the opposition bench, is not for the faint-hearted. It requires backbone, vision and a readiness to speak truth to power, even at personal cost. But in Nigeria, opposition politics has too often been reduced to empty press releases, Twitter activism and superficial coalition-building that collapses at the scent of political appeasement. The PDP’s most vocal moments seem to come only during electoral seasons, when contracts are on the line and tickets are up for grabs.
This is not opposition, it is opportunism.
Since the APC took power in 2015, Nigeria has faced an alarming regression on nearly every front. Our economy, once Africa’s largest, now wallows in inflation, unemployment and a crumbling Naira. Insecurity has turned vast swathes of the country into killing fields. Democratic institutions have been weakened and civil liberties trampled. And yet, the PDP has not offered the formidable resistance expected of a party with its legacy. Where was the outrage when election results were manipulated? Where was the coordination when court orders were disobeyed or when citizens were gunned down during peaceful protests?
Far too often, PDP leaders have failed to meet the moment. Instead of organizing sustained campaigns against injustice, they were busy negotiating political appointments, forming alliances of convenience or going mute entirely.
The Curse of Recycled Leadership
Nigeria suffers not from a lack of talent, but from the stranglehold of geriatric politics. The same names dominate the PDP’s leadership structure year after year, individuals more committed to preserving their influence than solving Nigeria’s problems. Their ideas are outdated, their rhetoric tired and their loyalty questionable. These figures are relics of a past that Nigerians are desperately trying to escape.
It is this recycling of failed politicians that keeps the party in perpetual crisis. These individuals cling to “UNITY” not as a principle of inclusion, but as a euphemism for entitlement. They manipulate internal processes, undermine youth participation and resist reform. Their refusal to exit the stage is not only selfish; it is dangerous. They have nothing more to offer but delays, distractions and diluted strategies.
A Generational Reawakening
The PDP must now prioritize generational transition; not as a symbolic gesture, but as a matter of strategic survival. The future of opposition in Nigeria depends on the rise of a new crop of leaders, men and women who are untainted by the corruption of the past and committed to confronting the APC with courage, clarity and creativity.
We must restructure our internal systems to promote merit, innovation and grassroots participation. The party must become a sanctuary for activists, youth leaders, technocrats and political reformers, individuals who are willing to stake their reputations and risk personal comfort in service to the people. We need leaders who do not seek comfort in compromise but purpose in resistance.
This change must start from the ward level to the National Working Committee. The culture of “godfatherism,” imposition and shadow deals must end. If we fail to democratize our own party, how can we claim to defend democracy in Nigeria?
Rebirth Through Accountability
Rebuilding the PDP means going beyond slogans. It means instituting a new culture of accountability. Those who failed the party during our most difficult battles must not be rewarded with tickets or appointments. They must be named and shamed. Loyalty must no longer be measured by years of membership, but by years of service, sacrifice and substance.
PDP must also return to issue-based politics. Nigerians are tired of empty rhetoric. We must present comprehensive, bold and practical policy alternatives, from security reform to youth employment, education, healthcare and digital economy development. We must use every avenue/parliament, media, civil society, diaspora networks to expose the failures of the APC and champion workable solutions.
From Diaspora to National Action
This call also extends to the diaspora chapters of the PDP, many of which have devolved into echo chambers dominated by career politicians abroad. The diaspora should be a nerve center of innovation, advocacy and global lobbying for Nigerian democracy, not a retirement plan for political patrons. Our foreign chapters must become engines of ideas, funding and advocacy/not gossip centers filled with expired politicians chasing diplomatic appointments.
Let the new wave of diasporans be bridge-builders between Nigeria and global best practices. Let them lead policy conversations, support grassroots mobilization and raise the intellectual bar of opposition politics.
Time to Clear the Stage:
Nigeria is at a historic crossroads. The APC has failed, but failure alone does not translate to victory for the PDP. Only a credible, dynamic and forward-looking PDP can offer the country a genuine alternative. That journey begins by asking those who have failed the test of leadership to step aside.
This is not a personal attack; it is a patriotic call. If you failed to defend Nigerians in their hour of need, if your legacy is more betrayal than bravery, then the time has come to go.
Let the PDP be reborn through truth, not tokenism. Let it be restructured around the people, not personalities. Let us build a party where conviction overrides convenience and where service, not survival, is the goal.
Let the expired mandates go. Nigeria’s future cannot wait.
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