Singapore's Ambassador-at-Large Tommy Koh has slammed the refusal by U.S. President Donald Trump to concede the 2020 presidential election as "disgraceful".

Koh made his remarks in a comment on a Facebook post of a New York Times (NYT) article shared by retired diplomat Bilahari Kausikan, about major Republican leaders supporting Trump's refusal to do so.

Koh also questioned the absence of the political culture of "accepting defeating gracefully".

Meanwhile, Bilahari himself posited that the Republican leaders' reason for doing so was likely to retain the support of voters for Trump -- more than 72 million of them.

Due to the Georgia Senate races continuing into run-off elections that will take place soon, the Washington Post speculated that the Republicans wished to keep Trump's supporters on-board for these contests.

Koh expresses a similar sentiment with Biden

Koh's sentiment was similar to that of U.S. President-Elect Joe Biden, who called Trump's refusal to concede "an embarrassment", according to the Washington Post.

In addition, Biden further stated that he might begin naming members of his incoming Cabinet later in the month.

Biden has since received congratulations for winning the election from most of the world's leaders, with the exception of some countries, such as China and Russia.

How have the Republicans been reacting to the results?

Several high profile Republicans including Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell have backed Trump's legal challenge.

McConnell declared that Trump was "100 per cent" within his right to challenge the results on legal grounds and added, according to NYT:

"Let’s not have any lectures about how the president should immediately, cheerfully accept preliminary election results from the same characters who just spent four years refusing to accept the validity of the last election.”

McConnell also dismissed concerns about the legal challenge, on the grounds that it would not prevent a new administration from taking office in January 2021, "if there is one", the Washington Post further reported.

Biden has stated that while he has not yet spoken to McConnell, he intends to do so at some point in the "not too distant future".

But CNN highlighted that some Republicans may not share the same sentiment, with Democrat Senator Chris Coons saying that Republican colleagues have asked him to pass on their congratulations to Biden in private, as they supposedly could not do so in public.

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Top image collage from Bilahari Kausikan Facebook and Donald Trump Facebook