“In the battle for the soul of America, democracy won. “ United States President-elect Joe Biden solemnly called on Monday, December 14, to ” turn the page “ of the presidential election of November 3, according to extracts from a speech broadcast by his campaign team while the formal vote of the voters confirmed his victory against Donald Trump. The former vice-president of Barack Obama will become on January 20 the 46e president of the country’s history.
“The integrity of our elections has been preserved”, he added, in a message targeting, without naming him, his Republican rival, who has so far stubbornly refused to acknowledge his defeat.
“The flame of democracy was lit a long time ago in this country. And we now know that nothing – not even a pandemic or an abuse of power – can extinguish that flame. “
The vote of the large voters marks the completion of an electoral sequence which marked the United States. This meeting, usually a formality, had a particular significance because of the attitude of the outgoing president.
The process, which takes place state by state, is traditionally little followed. But this year it was broadcast live after weeks of a judicial guerrilla war led by Donald Trump which was a complete fiasco but which further reinforced America’s divisions.
“It is not only out of respect for traditions but also to show everyone, today more than ever, that our system works”, said Chris Sununu, Republican governor of New Hampshire, before his state’s four voters voted in favor of Joe Biden.
In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s 20 grand voters, as expected, all cast their votes for Joe Biden. “It’s a great day for democracy, for freedom and for Pennsylvania”, reacted Nancy Mills, president of the Democratic Party in this state where Donald Trump had won in 2016 but where he lost in 2020.
The results of the November 3 ballot have already been certified by each of the 50 American states: the Democrat won the record number of 81.28 million votes, or 51.3% of the vote, against 74.22 million (46.8 %) to the outgoing Republican President.
But in the United States, the tenant of the White House is chosen by indirect universal suffrage, each state generally attributing its electorate, whose number depends essentially on its population, to the candidate who wins locally.
Here too, the certified results confirm the comfortable advance of Joe Biden, announced on November 7 by the major American media, with 306 voters against 232 to Donald Trump.
The 538 voters are local politicians, figures from civil society or relatives of a candidate. Most are unknown to the general public, but sometimes national figures are part of the electoral college.
This is the case this year for former Democratic President Bill Clinton and his wife, the unsuccessful 2016 presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton. “I am in favor of the abolition of the electoral college (…) but since it still exists, I was proud to bring my voice, in New York State, to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris ”, she tweeted.
Although it has happened in the past that a very small handful of them depart from the rule that they give their vote to the candidate who wins in their State, this has never changed the outcome of the election.
“Acknowledge your defeat”
From the White House, Donald Trump has been denouncing for almost a month and a half, without evidence but conspiracy theories in support, “The most rigged election in American history”.
Almost all of his legal actions were dismissed. Ultimate humiliation, the Supreme Court, which it has yet profoundly reworked by appointing three judges and thereby consolidating the now strong conservative majority of six out of nine members, last week rejected two Republican appeals without even seizing it on the bottom.
Once Monday’s solemn step has been taken, will a greater number of elected Republicans agree to finally recognize the victory of Joe Biden? It’s possible. But it is unlikely that Donald Trump will fall into line, especially since according to polls, a large majority of his voters do not consider the Democrat a legitimate winner. “The fight has only just begun !!! “, he tweeted this weekend.
He could try to take advantage of the complexity of an institutional process that stretches in length for a last standstill: some elected officials close to him plan to contest the results when Congress will be called upon to provide a final validation on January 6. . However, the process has hardly any chance of success.
In a scathing editorial, the Wall Street Journal felt it was time for Donald Trump to change his posture. “There is a time to fight and there is a time to recognize defeat. Trump took endless legal remedies and lost, he stressed. He would do better now to highlight the advances of his presidency, which are numerous, and to accept his fate, not so terrible as that, by becoming one of the 45 former American presidents. “
Our selection of articles on the presidential election in the United States
Find the campaign chronicles of our correspondent in Washington here.
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