“We cannot simply stand idly by while the good name of democracy gets flushed down the toilet.”
Mr Rudd said the Australian national interest lay in defending the election result against any threats that undermined confidence in US democratic institutions and thereby helped rivals such as China and Russia.
“It would represent manna from heaven from the point of view of authoritarian capitalist systems around the world, principally China,” he said of a disputed result.
“It would enable them to say, both at home and abroad, that the fountainhead of 20th century liberal democracy, the United States of America, has failed in its most elementary tests to ensuring a smooth transition of government.”
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull also expressed concern over a potential refusal to hand over power.
“This is one of the reasons why people are becoming increasingly apprehensive about the way Trump is challenging, in a prospective manner, the legitimacy of the election,” he said.
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