BERLIN (Sputnik) — The whole world, including the United States, is surprised by the victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential elections, Juergen Klimke, an Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) observer at the US elections in 2012 and 2016, said.
"Of course the whole world was surprised, and Americans themselves were surprised. Monday night, on November 7, I was in Philadelphia at the final Hillary Clinton rally. Her husband, family, [outgoing US President Barack] Obama, Bon Jovi — everyone was there. And I didn't have the impression it was a final rally — there was so much hope, optimism and confidence in the air," Klimke, Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party member, told RIA Novosti.
He compared Trump's election victory to the decision by the United Kingdom to exit the European Union in terms of unexpectedness.
"I am for strengthening constructive cooperation in people's interests and for the development of the world. It is our responsibility as politicians in Europe, the US and everywhere else in the world, we should try and reach an optimal level in relations," Klimke said.
He added that the prospect of rapprochement between Moscow and Washington under the new US administration was not raising any concerns in Berlin.
US Presidential Elections Raise Many Fundamental Questions
There are many questions on the way the presidential elections in the United States were held and they should be discussed, Klimke said.
"There are many fundamental questions that should to be discussed," he told RIA Novosti.
He stressed that the elections were held on a working day — on Tuesday.
"Whether it is right or wrong? Our experience as, of course, in almost all European countries, says that Sunday is the best day for elections, since people have more free time. On a working day people work, meaning they are either go to the poll stations in the morning or during the lunch break, and this is striking — people stood in long queues in the morning, in some cases they could wait for more than one hour. The question is whether it is necessary?" he said.
He also raised an issue of participation of prisoners and convicts in elections, pointing out that about six million US citizens in pretrial detention or convicted did not vote.
After 2012 presidential election, Klimke claimed that there was some influence on voters that discredited the reliability of the results.
In particular, he criticized the early announcement of the official results due to various time zones in the United States, as the first results were published while some polling stations were still operating.
"This time we have discussed the issue in the OSCE and we said it would make more sense if the official results were published at one particular time," Klimke said.
Republican Donald Trump secured a victory in the US presidential election on November 8 with 290 electoral votes against his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's 232. Trump's inauguration will be held on January 20, 2017.
On the Election Day, more than 290 OSCE observers from 44 countries visited more than 900 poling stations in the United States.
