This absurd picture from the last British election will make you think twice before mocking the US

As the US election rages on with no winner yet declared, it's easy for those based in other countries to mock the whole situation.

It's now a been around 36 hours since the earliest polls closed, and due to the record numbers of early voting, many of the key states have yet to call it for either Trump or Biden.

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign is mounting legal challenges in four states and supporters are staging protests in polling stations to stop votes being counted.

Add to that the fact that Trump claimed he had won the election with no evidence, and continues to pump out tweets discrediting mail-in ballots with no evidence, and you have something of a chaotic situation.

Meanwhile in the UK, people have started calling for Keir Starmer to push for a change in the voting system, asking for proportional representation instead of the current first-past-the-post system to avoid a similar situation playing out in this country at the next election.

On Twitter, group chats and in pubs on the last night before a second lockdown, conversations ridiculing the American system (and certain factions of the US population) were commonplace, but before we get on our high moral horse, it's worth remembering that the UK system has some quirks of its own.

Actor Stephen Mangan tweeted out an image that will bring anyone with such delusions of superiority coming crashing down.

He was not the first person to resurface the picture during the US election.

It shows Boris Johnson – a prime minister who many have compared to Trump due to his signature blonde hair, populist policies, and divisive rhetoric – having just won the 2019 election, surrounded by some of the candidates he was up against. They include Count Binface and Sesame Street's Elmo. Because of course they do.

People took the point on the chin, and there were a lot of jokes about the man who was actually elected.

Some people had a more muted reaction.

Either way, I suspect we'll all be thinking twice before we criticise Americans any time soon...

MORE: Too close to call: How the 2020 election is a startled comparison to previous races