Biden defeats Trump, Kamala Harris first female Vice President

Joseph R. Biden Jr. has been elected president of the United States, defeating President Trump by promising to restore civility and stability to American politics and vowing to combat the surging coronavirus pandemic more aggressively .

Biden has won the race to become the next US president, defeating Donald Trump after a cliff-hanger of a vote count following Tuesday's election. 

Biden has garnered more than 73 million votes so far, the most ever for a US presidential candidate. Trump has drawn almost 70 million, the second-highest tally in history. The election has seen the highest turnout since 1900.

Late on Saturday Biden was declared to have won the key battleground State of Pennsylvania, sending him over the 270 electoral college vote threshold required to clinch the White House.

The result makes Trump the first one-term president since the 1990s. The Trump campaign has stated that their candidate will not concede. Donald Trump himself tweeted on Saturday that he had won the election “by a lot.”
Biden’s win came hours after Trump made a rambling statement in the White House, making unfounded claims that the election was being stolen from him because of fraudulent votes, prompting condemnation from within his own party.

In a statement, the Trump team said “beginning Monday, our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated.”

Unofficial results from states that have already finished counting their votes indicated a Biden win, as do the expected results from states like Wisconsin where the count was continuing.

President Trump had falsely declared himself the winner of the election when vote counting had barely started. He has since alleged irregularities in counting, but has failed to present any evidence of election fraud.

His campaign has filed a barrage of lawsuits in various states on Friday, as Biden appeared on the cusp of victory. More litigation is expected to follow.

The newest vote totals in Pennsylvania give Biden a lead outside of the automatic recount threshold.

At 77, Biden will become the 46th president and the oldest man ever sworn into the office. On Saturday, four days after Election Day, he secured the requisite 270 votes from the Electoral College.

The election, far closer than many experts had predicted, made history. Biden’s running mate, Senator Kamala Harris of California, is the first woman, and the first woman of colour, on a winning presidential ticket.