One of the Africans who observed the US elections is JohnPhiri of Zambia. He?s the executive director of the Zambia branch of aninternational NGO, Global Justice. Phiri is also here courtesy of the US StateDepartment. He was in Cincinnati, Ohio, during the announcement of the resultsyesterday.
Phiritold VOA English to Africa reporter Douglas Mpuga that he thought the USelections were well organized and went well. ?Frankly speaking, here inCincinnati the elections went smoothly. People voted, and I think the electionwas free and fair.?
Hesaid he was impressed by the speed and ease with which the results wereannounced. ?It?s interesting everybody expected the results to come in late butthings seemed to have moved systematically and results came in earlier thanexpected.?
Phirialso noted that the high turnout was impressive. He commended Senator JohnMcCain?s immediate concession speech. He described it as ?a mature speech? andhailed Obama?s victory speech as gracious.
Hesaid, ?I just hope that [this] kind of democracy is emulated across the globewhere losers fail to accept defeat and instead insult each other.?
Phiri described his experience here asan international observer as serious and useful. ?I have learnt so much,especially in campaign strategy. He laughed and added, ?Well who knows? [Maybe]it will help my political career in Zambia in the future!?