The President of the United States, Donald Trump, suggested this Thursday, July 30, postpone the November elections, alleging that the coronavirus and the vote by mail threaten to fraud the process.
“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA.” he wrote Trump wrote in a tweet, at a time when the polls ahead of the November vote are not in his favor.
He continued: "Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???"
The United States has never delayed a presidential election, even during the Civil War.
In any case, they are unlikely to be postponed this time. Only Congress can change the election date, set by law on November 3, and opposition Democrats control the lower house.
Several US states want mail voting to be more accessible to limit the spread of the new
coronavirus as much as possible. Many have allowed this voting system for years and have reported no major problems other than isolated incidents.
For several weeks, Trump, facing very unfavorable polls, has evoked the ghost of mass fraud.
His comments on this topic prompted Twitter to report for the first time that one of his tweets was misleading.
In late April, his Democrat opponent
Joe Biden had predicted that the billionaire would do everything possible to postpone the election.
Remember what I tell you, I think you will try to postpone the elections in one way or another, you will find reasons why they cannot be carried out, he said.
A few days later, Trump, questioned during a press conference at the White House, categorically rejected this hypothesis. I never considered changing the date ... Why would I do that? He said, referring to "the propaganda" of the Democratic camp.
The President's tweet evoking the possibility of an election postponement was sent a few minutes after the announcement of a historic drop in US GDP in the second quarter (-32.09%) as a result of the pandemic.