On Thursday, the head of an international observer mission to the US elections accused President Donald Trump of a “gross abuse of office” after he alleged he was being cheated and sought an end to vote counting in key swing states, reported AFP.

“The most disturbing thing was that with presidential fanfare of the White House, that is, with all the insignia of power, the American commander-in-chief called for an end to the count because of his purported victory,” Michael Link, head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) informed Germany’s Stuttgarter Zeitung.

“That was a gross abuse of office,” he said in a preliminary report published on Wednesday, and calling that Trump’s “claims of manipulation are baseless”.

Link admonished that Trump’s repeated mendacious allegations of fraud could have far-reaching repercussions.

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“The major concern is that the US will not be able put back into the bottle the genie that Trump has let out. Even if he were to admit defeat and hand over office properly, his supporters, incited by rhetoric, may see violence as a legitimate tool because they no longer feel democratically represented,” Link added.

That is “a danger that goes far beyond election day,” said the mission chief of the OSCE, which supervises elections throughout Western nations and the former Soviet Union.

The mission already issued a statement on Wednesday stating that there was no basis to Trump’s claims of cheating, and that Tuesday’s vote was “competitive and well managed.”

74-year-old Trump has claimed victory unilaterally prior to counting in key battleground states has concluded.

He has also said that he would not acknowledge the reported results, issuing unprecedented complaints – not endorsed by any evidence – of fraud.