There was something eerily familiar about watching the present US election as a Bangladeshi. We have seen it all several times over--denigrating the opponent, making unsubstantiated claims, telling outright lies, quoting unsourced figures, citing partial quotes, and refusing to respond to emerging uncomfortable facts as the voting day nears.

So as I watch the familiar scenes on television, I am deeply saddened by the fact that Donald Trump, who is most likely, and for me hopefully, to lose today's election, has been largely successful in creating doubt among his followers about a fundamental institution of democracy--elections-- that the American people and its leaders have built over time.

Elections must be vigorously fought, but its outcome must be automatically and gracefully accepted, wishing all success to the winner if not pledging full cooperation. Here again, I was on familiar grounds as memories of cries of electoral fraud in almost all elections held after the fall of Ershad regime resonated in my mind.

Trump destroyed that tradition early on, brazenly declaring that he would accept the election results only if he won it. This one stance should have made the American voters reject him as a candidate as he was unwilling to accept the people's verdict if it went against him. But instead, it further spiked his popularity indicating that he has been able to create sufficient doubts in the minds of his supporters that the election process could be "rigged", as Trump has been claiming from the outset. Once again my memories of our own leaders casting doubts on our election process gave me the sense of déjà vu. But to their credit, our leaders never said outright that they would accept the poll verdict "only if I win."

Trump's action goes beyond today's election. He has wrought a serious damage to a fundamental institution of democracy, whose credibility is a precondition to forming any representative government. If people do not fully believe that the leaders who claim to represent them actually got their votes and feel that leaders are occupying their respective posts because of a "rigged" election, then one of the vital pillars on which democracy stands, collapses. There cannot be any "representative government" if that government is not elected through a free and fair election. Trump has created doubt in election itself with obvious repercussions on the outcome.

Early on, Trump apologists could have said that terming the system "rigged" meant that the process favoured the so-called established politicians and party bigwigs and was tilted against newcomers into politics like Trump. American voters should have understood what he really meant when he declared following the last debate that he would "accept the results only if he wins."

We in Bangladesh have followed the US election with keen interest. With all its faults and blunders, and with the unquestioned burden of guilt of having invaded Iraq and nearly destroyed an ancient civilization, US still remains the biggest economy and the mightiest military power in the world. For us specifically, it is still one of the largest destinations of our RMG products. Though it is country whose reputation and prestige stands vastly damaged--mostly for their own doing-- it is a country that still sets many of the global agenda and influences outcomes of collective action as none other. What happens in the US is of great importance to Bangladesh as we seek greater access to the US market and aspire to become a middle income country in the near future.

For us the choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as the future President of the USA could not be starker. Hillary is a global statesperson and has steered global affairs for long, not always successfully. She personally knows Bangladesh and has visited us more than once. She knows about the struggle against poverty that Bangladesh has waged and the democratic journey that we have made especially in empowerment of women.

Trump only knows Putin, and is most unlikely to have heard about MDG goals and what Bangladesh has achieved of it. His attitude towards Muslims would be another reason for all Muslim majority countries to stay as far away from him as possible. It would be quite some time before he would have time for developing countries like Bangladesh. Most of them are sources of migrants as far as he would be concerned.

So here, wishing Hillary Clinton success!