Trump or Biden? The suspense remained total, Wednesday November 4 at the end of the morning, on the outcome of the American presidential election. The President of the United States claimed victory and threatened to appeal to the Supreme Court, while the counting of the votes is still underway in several states. For the moment, the former Democratic vice-president is slightly ahead of the Republican among the number of voters. But nothing is played.
The two candidates show their optimism …
Joe Biden was confident during a speech overnight Tuesday through Wednesday at his home in Wilmington, Delaware. “Keep the faith, we will win! “ launched the ex-right arm of Barack Obama under the enthusiastic horns of his supporters, gathered in “drive-in”. “We think we are on the right track to win this election”, added the Democratic candidate, calling on his supporters to be patient.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump claimed victory, while the count is not complete in several key states. “Honestly, we won the election”, he said in a brief address from the White House.
… and both have a chance to win
The outgoing president has retained Florida, lying many polls, as well as Texas, a conservative stronghold that once seemed threatened, and Ohio, won since 1964 by all the candidates who also acceded to the presidency.
Joe Biden could still win, however. According to the Associated Press agency, which is the reference in the matter, the Democrat won the crucial state of Arizona, won by Donald Trump in 2016. And Mr. Biden can still hope to tear Georgia from the Republican camp. If these victories are confirmed, he must still win at least two of the three disputed states of the industrial North (Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin) won on the wire by the billionaire four years ago.
Majority Democrats in the House of Representatives
In addition to designating the future tenant of the White House, American voters also voted on Tuesday for the renewal of Congress. The seats of 435 elected members of the House of Representatives were put to a vote. As widely anticipated by pundits, Democrats have managed to retain, and even strengthen, their majority in the House.
Postal voting, a new challenge
Nearly 100 million Americans voted early. This is three times more than in 2016. These ballots, sent by post, are the subject of a disinformation campaign on the part of Donald Trump, who denounces their operation on a daily basis. Although postal voting has already been in place for many years, the US president denigrates a system that he believes promotes massive fraud.
When will we know the name of the next president?
The wait promises to be long. All polling stations have closed. But since each state has a specific schedule for counting postal votes, the full count could take some time.
In Pennsylvania, in the Michigan and in the Wisconsin – three key states, all republicans in 2016 – the count could continue on Wednesday, or even beyond. In the Nevada, another pivotal state that saw Hillary Clinton win in 2016, if nearly 80% of the votes have been counted, mail-in ballots are accepted until November 10, as long as they are mailed until ‘on election day. And in North Carolina, won by the outgoing president in 2016, the count could last even longer, because the state agrees to count the ballots received by correspondence until November 12.
Will Donald Trump accept a possible defeat?
For months, the Republican candidate has been preparing the ground: if he loses the election, it is necessarily because it will have been rigged. The White House tenant’s tendency to exaggeration – and bad faith – is no longer to be proven, and he has already, in the past, regularly asserted that the elections in which he was engaged were ” rigged “.
During a speech on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, Donald Trump also accused the Democrats of trying to ” steal “ her “Great victory”. “We will never let them do it”, he added. Evoking a “Fraud” – without delivering any concrete element – the American president also assured to want to seize the Supreme Court, without specifying for what reason.
What majority in the Senate?
The fate of the Senate – until today with a weak Republican majority (53 seats against 47) – remains undecided. The seats of 33 senators were put to a vote. On Wednesday morning, Democrats saw their chances of winning the majority shrink greatly: they snatched two seats from the Grand Old Party (in Colorado and Arizona), but lost one in return (in Alabama), while maintaining the seats of elected officials who seemed threatened. However, the Democrats must seize four seats to regain the majority or three if Joe Biden wins the presidential election, since the vice-president-elect Kamala Harris could then, according to the Constitution, vote to break a 50-50 vote.
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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