Paris (AFP)
"We have not finished trembling for democracy": the international press welcomes Sunday with relief the announced victory of Joe Biden and notes the "exit without dignity" of Donald Trump, but is worried about the crushing task that awaits the new president and his running mate Kamala Harris.
"A new dawn for America", affirms the British newspaper The Independent, noting the success of Mrs. Harris, first woman to reach the vice-president.
"Sleeping Joe wakes America," mocked the Sunday Times in reference to the pejorative nickname Donald Trump gave his rival during the campaign.
The Sunday Telegraph for its part directly takes up Mr. Biden's words: "It is time for America to heal."
"What a liberation, what a relief: the votes are numbered, the days of Donald Trump too. Joe Biden inherits a heavy load like no other of his predecessors: he must unite America", also notes the left-wing German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.
"During his nearly five decades of public life, few people believed that Biden could achieve it. His three attempts to conquer the White House have been widely deemed to have little credibility," said Australian public broadcaster ABC.
"But Biden always seemed to have faith in himself. And now he's the new president of the United States," ABC concludes.
- the "end of four years of erratic rule" -
Joe Biden "puts an end to four years of Donald Trump's erratic reign," writes the leading South African Sunday newspaper The Sunday Times.
The task that awaits the Democratic ticket nevertheless promises to be overwhelming, notes the German weekly Die Zeit (center).
“Joe Biden will have to quickly find answers to the threats hanging over the economy and the acute danger of the pandemic. That he can, on his own, reconcile the country is unlikely. That Donald Trump accepts defeat is unthinkable. has not yet finished trembling for democracy, "he warns.
The largest Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter (liberal) also considers that the victory of Mr. Biden is "bittersweet".
“Biden is going to struggle to heal America” and his promise to bring the country back to normal is shaping up to be a “mission impossible”.
Still, the candidate managed to win back popular "Rust Belt" voters in the Northeast, who had previously voted Trump and helped the party win new ones in the Southwest, which "could change the electoral geography of the United States in the foreseeable future ", he underlines again.
The conservative newspaper Svenska Dagbladet also notes that "the election is over but (that) the conflict continues".
- "monumental task" -
"Half the country, at least half of those who voted, might have a lasting sense that something is wrong after months of battles and calls to question the election; that the electoral system is rigged and that you can't trust it; that there's no point in voting; that American democracy doesn't work anyway; that the only person they can trust is the guy who says you robbed him of the election.
"Biden faces the monumental task of rebuilding confidence on the world stage," the Japan Times said.
In the Middle East, like the pro-Saudi Arabian site Okaz, newspapers are wondering about the repercussions of this change in casting at the White House on the region and especially relations with Iran, a pet peeve of both Riyadh and Donald Trump.
The Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat recalls that the mandate of the president in office had largely favored the axis Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain, vis-a-vis Iran.
In Iran, newspapers display a mixed position.
For the conservative media, the change of tenant at the White House is only a facade.
- "America has changed its mask" -
“America has changed its mask,” says Khorasan, “The unmasked enemy is gone, the masked enemy is coming,” Resalat adds.
Titles close to reformist circles like Aftab-e Yazd see it as a "new chapter for America".
"Your success is our success," writes the columnist for the centrist Yediot Aharonot newspaper in Israel, confident that the new White House tenant will remain pro-Israel even if he reopens a dialogue with Iran.
Many media are also reporting on the exceptional career of Ms. Harris, who for the Australian newspaper Sydney Morning Herald "shattered the glass ceiling".
"Her black identity has allowed her to speak in a personal way during a year of questioning police brutality and systemic racism. As the woman ever elected to the highest office in a U.S. government, she is giving back. hope to the women who were brought down by the defeat of Hillary Clinton four years ago, ”the daily concludes.
Ms. Harris is "a strong woman, symbol of renewal and feared by Trump," added the center-right Spanish newspaper El Mundo.
- Trump "without dignity" -
The German tabloid Bild, while welcoming the victory of Biden, also chooses to underline the "exit without dignity" of Donald Trump, who refuses to recognize his defeat and promises to continue to fight.
Australian newspaper Daily Telegraph, owned by tycoon Rupert Murdoch, also notes that he "is simply not going to accept the humiliation of apparently being beaten by a rival he saw as weak and barely worth fighting" .
"He has paved the way for months for electoral fraud claims and he is not going to give up on this strategy now," he said.
In Cairo, the government daily al-Akhbar believes in "violations" during the elections and affirms that "it is time for the United States to stop teaching us lessons in democracy".
The Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo notes that Trump's defeat constitutes "punishment for attacks on civilization" and warns of the "lesson" this represents for its Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro.
- "The reflection of our own flaws" -
The French newspaper L'Est Républicain also sees America's fractures as "a growing reflection of our own flaws".
"The American fractures resemble those that we had in France, all the time to auscultate during the yellow vests crisis. If the American example can be of use to us, let us exceptionally try not to imitate it".
In Britain, the regional daily Ayrshire Daily News, located in an area which hosts one of Trump's many golf clubs, takes a purely local approach to news: "The owner of the golf club of South Ayrshire loses the 2020 election, "he said.
burs-ahe / roc-cac / pz
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