Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador refuses to congratulate Biden

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.