Czech President Milos Zeman on Thursday told a Czech news website that US President Donald Trump must acknowledge his "defeat" in the US presidential election and "not be embarrassing".
“I personally believe that it would be much more reasonable to give up, not to be embarrassing, and allow the new president to take office,” Zeman told Parlamentnilisty.cz.
The Czech president expressed confusion that the projected results of the US election have been announced by the media, and not the election commission.
In 2016, Zeman voiced his support for Trump's candidacy, saying that he would vote for Trump if he was a US citizen. Today, however, Zeman was one of the first world leaders to congratulate Democratic candidate Joe Biden on what the US mainstream media has announced as the victory in the presidential election.
"The support you received is not only a reflection of the American people’s trust in your leadership skills, which you have proven countless times during your years of public service, but is also a call of the American citizens for change", the Czech president wrote in his congratulatory letter to Biden.
The official results of the US election are yet to be announced.
Trump, who has repeatedly denounced the media calls, has refused to concede and has continued to claim election fraud, with his legal team filing multiple lawsuits in several states demanding to stop counting "illegal votes".
Biden, after accepting the congratulations from several world leaders and global media figures on his projected win, has begun to gather a team for his administration if he takes over at the Oval Office.