Trump administration tells US diplomats abroad not to opine on foreign elections

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio instructed US diplomats worldwide not to comment on the fairness or integrity of elections conducted by foreign countries, according to an internal note seen by Reuters on Thursday, in a significant departure from Washington's traditional approach of promoting free and fair elections overseas.

The order, sent to all US diplomatic posts in a 17 July internal State Department cable, says the Department will no longer issue election-related statements or social media posts from Washington unless there is a "clear and compelling" foreign policy interest.

"When it is appropriate to comment on a foreign election, our message should be brief, focused on congratulating the winning candidate and, when appropriate, noting shared foreign policy interests," said the cable, which was marked as "sensitive" but not classified.

"Messages should avoid opining on the fairness or integrity of an electoral process, its legitimacy, or the democratic values of the country in question," it said.

It added that election-related messages should come from either the Secretary himself or the Department spokesperson and it barred US diplomats from issuing such statements without explicit approval from the agency's senior leadership.

The cable referenced President Donald Trump's 13 May speech in Riyadh when he criticized what he called "Western interventionists" telling Middle Eastern countries how to govern their own affairs, saying that was no longer Washington's business and it was looking to forge partnerships.

"While the United States will hold firm to its own democratic values and celebrate those values when other countries choose a similar path, the President made clear that the United States will pursue partnerships with countries wherever our strategic interests align," the directive said.

When asked about the cable, a State Department spokesperson in emailed comments repeated some of the points in the directive and said that this approach was consistent with the administration's emphasis on "national sovereignty."

The United States has traditionally viewed the promotion of human rights and democracy as well as press freedom as a core foreign policy objective, although critics have repeatedly pointed out the double standard Washington has had towards its allies.

Under Trump, the administration has increasingly moved away from the promotion of democracy and human rights, largely seeing it as interference in another country's affairs. For example, it has moved to reshape the State Department's human rights bureau, which it said had become a platform for "left-wing activists to wage vendettas against 'anti-woke' leaders."

Trump officials have repeatedly weighed in on European politics to denounce what they see as suppression of right-wing leaders, including in Romania, Germany and France, accusing European authorities of censoring views such as criticism of immigration in the name of countering disinformation.