Sanders call on his supporters to elect Clinton as US president

US: Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders drew jeers and shouts of "We want Bernie" in a show of disagreement from his supporters after he urged them to back rival Hillary Clinton in her bid for the US presidency as the party's four days national convention kicked off on Monday.


The boos and jeers underscored the anger felt by Sander's convention delegates towards Clinton's win and embarrassing emails leaked on Friday indicating that the party leadership had worked to undermine Sanders' campaign for the party's presidential nomination.

Speaking to his supporters, Sanders lambasted Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, referring to him as a danger to the future of the country who "must be defeated".

But he was booed when he said;

"we have got to elect Hillary Clinton" and her vice presidential running mate, US Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia.

Sanders, tried to calm delegates down;

"Brothers and sisters, this is the real world that we live in," he said, adding, "Trump is a bully and a demagogue."

The crowd yelled back:

"So is Hillary."

"She stole the election!" someone else shouted.

WikiLeaks website drew attention on Sanders' failed bid to win the Democratic presidential nomination, and especially on his protests during the campaign that the party establishment was working to sabotage him, after the website released more than 19,000 Democratic National Committee emails on Friday.

Sanders got the loudest cheers when he acknowledged that Wasserman Schultz, a US senator from Florida, had resigned as the Democratic National Committee chairman over the email controversy.

"Her resignation opens up the possibility of new leadership at the top of the Democratic Party," Sanders said, adding that the leadership should be made up of "people who want real change."

Wasserman Schultz's resignation is to take effect at the end of the convention, but decline to speak as planned at the opening of the convention on Monday afternoon.

"I have decided that in the interest of making sure that we can start the Democratic convention on a high note that I am not going to gavel in the convention," she said.