There’s a major election on – in Myanmar

RASHMEE ROSHAN LALL November 5, 2020

The Economist’s US editor John Prideaux recently offered a droll revelation from US election scenario planning at Economist HQ.

A colleague, he wrote, “suggested that in the event there is no conclusive result, we put the general election in Myanmar (which will be held on November 8th) on the cover”.

He went on to commend it as “a pleasingly eccentric editorial choice” but also expressed the hope “we will know the identity of the next American president by the time we are designing our cover next week”.

One can but hope.

Unfortunately, the level of anxiety – not about who wins or loses per se, but who is falsely said to have won or lost – remains at such a pitch that everyone (including The Economist) is preparing to wait (and consider front-paging a totally different election meanwhile.)

We may know all we need to by the weekend.