US embassy urges Ivory Coast leaders to respect election ‘process’ hours after Donald Trump challenges vote

In an ironic turn of events, the US embassy in the West African country issued a statement Wednesday morning calling on leaders to “show commitment to the democratic process and rule of law”.

The statement read: “We urge all parties, groups, and individuals to engage in inclusive dialogue to find peaceful solutions to their disagreements and to heal national divisions.

“Grievances related to the presidential election should be resolved peacefully and transparently through legal processes.”

The statement was issued on Twitter hours after US president Donald Trump questioned election results in his own country.

The president called the vote a “major fraud on the nation” and has vowed to contest the results in US courts before falsely claiming his opponents of trying to “steal” the election.

President Trump is fighting to cling on to the White House following a late surge of support for the Republican incumbent in Tuesday’s election, which is yet to be called.

Reacting to the statement, one Twitter user wrote: “Yeah, sorry, but the US never again gets to talk about the legitimacy of elections.”

“Nice statement. A bit correction though. Just replace Cote d’Ivoire with the ‘United States’. Thank you,” said another.

Marcel Dirsus added: “You couldn’t make it up: The United States calls on other leaders to show ‘commitment to the democratic process and the rule of law’ while the President of the United States tries to steal an election by preventing millions of votes from being counted.”

Ayo Sogunro quipped: “The irony in this is obvious to everyone except the US Embassy.”