Miami, Dec 14 (AP) The head of an electronic voting company being targeted by allies of President Donald Trump said baseless claims that it helped flip the 2020 election for Joe Biden threatens to undermine Americans' faith in democracy.

Antonio Mugica, CEO of Florida-based Smartmatic, said for years he watched as democracy in his native Venezuela was destroyed by lies and conspiracy theories pushed from the highest levels of the country's socialist government.

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Now he fears many Americans are being too complacent in the face of a similar disinformation campaign.

“When a candidate questions the election in some emerging market, in Africa or South America, it stays there. It doesn't affect the entire planet,” Mugica said in an interview with The Associated Press.

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“Now, the role model is that if you lose, you basically say you didn't lose. You say you were cheated.”

Last week, Smarmatic began sending letters last week to Fox News, Rudy Giuliani and other Trump allies threatening legal action unless they fully retract baseless claims that software developed by a US affiliate it sold more than a decade ago altered the outcome of the US election. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)