Front PageNational News

US says election results won’t affect relations with Malawi

Results of presidential elections in the United States of America will not in any way affect the country’s relationship with Malawi, the US Embassy in Lilongwe has said.

Without being outright conclusive, US Embassy public affairs officer Edward Monster said yesterday that based on historical occurrences in the US foreign policy on Africa following presidential elections in that country, there is no need for fear that Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, when ushered into office, will make much radical changes to the policy.

US says election results won’t affect relations with Malawi
US says election results won’t affect relations with Malawi

Monster was speaking in an interview in Lilongwe on the sidelines of a panel discussion to brief the public on how America elects its presidents.

He said: “It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to speculate what exactly the foreign policy would be like after Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton wins. That will come when the new president is elected and the new president elaborates what the policy will be.

“But I can say if the past is an indicator, US foreign policy has been constant for the past 20 years with some concrete examples like President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, starting the African Growth and Opportunity Act [Agoa] in the 1990s and his successor from the Republican, George W Bush and then President Barak Obama [Democrat] continued that programme and it still exists today and is of major benefit of the ones who want to do business with the United States today.”

According to Monster, another example would be the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) which was created by a Republican president, George W Bush and continued by his successor Obama.

He said these developments give him confidence that US policy on Africa and by extension, on Malawi, will remain constant.

During the event, the US Embassy held a mock election where 321 Malawians cast their votes. Results released last evening showed that 268 voted for Hillary Clinton and 53 were for Donald Trump.

Related Articles

Back to top button