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Sabtu, 07 November 2020

'Welcome back America!' World leaders congratulate Biden and Harris on win - CNA

WASHINGTON: Political leaders from around the world were quick to congratulate Joe Biden after US networks declared him the winner of the bitter White House race over President Donald Trump.

As crowds poured onto the streets of Washington and other cities in exuberant celebration and former US president Barack Obama hailed Biden's win as "decisive" and "historic", here are some of the first reactions from political figures across the globe:

IRELAND

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin was one of the first to take to Twitter and hail the Irish-American Joe Biden as "president-elect".

"I want to congratulate the new President Elect of the USA @JoeBiden," the Irish leader tweeted.

"Joe Biden has been a true friend of this nation throughout his life and I look forward to working with him in the years ahead. I also look forward to welcoming him back home when the circumstances allow!" Martin added.

READ: Biden to be next US president after projected win in Pennsylvania

CANADA

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was also quick off the mark.

"I look forward to working with President-elect Biden, Vice President-elect (Kamala) Harris, their administration, and the United States Congress as we tackle the world's greatest challenges together," Trudeau said in a statement.

BRITAIN

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson congratulated Biden "on his election as President of the United States and Kamala Harris on her historic achievement".

"The US is our most important ally and I look forward to working closely together on our shared priorities, from climate change to trade and security."

FRANCE

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted: "The Americans have chosen their President. Congratulations @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris! We have a lot to do to overcome today's challenges. Let's work together!"

“Welcome back America !” tweeted the mayor of Paris. Referencing the Paris climate accord that Trump pulled out of, Anne Hidalgo called Biden's victory “a beautiful symbol to act more than ever together against the climate emergency".

READ: Biden pledges to be president 'for all Americans'

READ: Trump says 'election is far from over', campaign to challenge results in court

GERMANY

German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated Biden, saying Germany's trans-atlantic ties with the US were "irreplaceable".

And her Foreign Minister Heiko Maas hailed Biden's election as a "new start" for trans-atlantic relations.

"We want to invest in our cooperation (with the new president) for a new start in transatlantic relations, a 'new deal'," he tweeted, as Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz hailed the opening of a "new chapter".

EUROPEAN UNION

In a joint statement, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, president of the European Council, which represents the leaders of EU member states, said: "We take note of the latest development in the electoral process.

"On this basis the EU congratulates President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on reaching enough Electoral Votes."

READ: Kamala Harris becomes first black woman elected as US vice president

GREECE

Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis tweeted: "Congratulations to US President-Elect @JoeBiden. Joe Biden has been a true friend of Greece and I'm certain that under his presidency the relationship between our countries will grow even stronger."

BELGIUM

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo tweeted: "Congratulations @JoeBiden with your election as 46th President of the United States. A record number of people have cast their vote in this election. This illustrates the vibrancy of the American political life and its democracy."

SPAIN

"The American people have chosen the 46th President of the United States. Congratulations @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris. We wish you good luck and all the best. We are looking forward to cooperating with you to tackle the challenges ahead of us," said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

INDIA

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated Biden and Harris on the victory.

"As the VP, your contribution to strengthening Indo-US relations was critical and invaluable. I look forward to working closely together once again to take India-US relations to greater heights," he said on Twitter.

To Harris, who is the first woman with Indian heritage to be elected as vice president of the United States, he congratulated her "pathbreaking" success, calling it a matter of immense pride for all Indian-Americans.

ITALY

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte tweeted: "Congratulations to the American people and institutions for an outstanding turnout of democratic vitality. We are ready to work with the President-elect @JoeBiden to make the transatlantic relationship stronger. The US can count on Italy as a solid Ally and a strategic partner."

NATO

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg described Biden as a "strong supporter of our Alliance".

Stoltenberg, who often had to adapt to President Donald Trump making unexpected announcements about US troop drawdowns from NATO deployments, said in a tweet he looked forward to working with Biden.

"A strong NATO is good for both North America and Europe," he said.

IRAQ

"Joe Biden (is) a friend and trusted partner in the cause of building a better Iraq. We look forward to working to achieve our common goals and strengthening peace and stability in the entire Middle East," Iraq's president Barham Salih tweeted on Saturday.

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2020-11-07 19:41:15Z
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Biden to be next US president after projected win in Pennsylvania - CNA

WASHINGTON: Democrat Joe Biden captured the US presidency on Saturday (Nov 7) as voters narrowly rebuffed Republican incumbent Donald Trump's tumultuous leadership and embraced Biden's promise to fight the coronavirus pandemic and fix the economy in a divided nation.

Winning the battleground state of Pennsylvania's 20 Electoral College votes gave the former vice president more than the 270 he needed to triumph, prompting all major TV networks to declare him victor came after four days of nail-biting suspense following Tuesday's election.

"I am honoured and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and in Vice President-elect (Kamala) Harris. In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted," Biden said on Twitter.

"With the campaign over, it's time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation. It's time for America to unite. And to heal."

Trump, who has made repeated claims of electoral fraud without providing proof, immediately accused Biden of "rushing to falsely pose as the winner".

"This election is far from over," he said in a statement.

State elections officials across the country say there has been no evidence of significant fraud.

READ: Live updates on the US election

READ: Trump says 'election is far from over', campaign will challenge results in court

Following the capture of Pennsylvania, US media projected that Biden also won the contested state of Nevada, adding six votes to his Electoral College victory.

Trump had made a strong play in Nevada, holding several rallies there in the final stretch of the campaign. Democrat Hillary Clinton narrowly won Nevada in 2016, and Republicans saw an opening to expand their electoral map.

The pandemic has pummelled Nevada’s tourism-dependent economy, especially, hampering Trump’s ability to make inroads in the state.

Nevada is also home to a large Hispanic population, a voting bloc that typically leans Democratic.

The last Republican presidential candidate to win Nevada was George W Bush in 2004.

As the news broke, loud cheers erupted in the halls of the hotel where Biden aides were staying and around the country.

"Worth every minute" of the wait, a Biden aide said, as campaign staff exchanged elbow bumps and air hugs in the lobby.

Cheers and applause was heard in neighbourhoods in Washington, DC. In one community, people emerged onto balconies, yelling, waving and banging pots. The wave of noise built as more people learned of the news. Some were in tears. Music began to play, "We are the Champions" blared.

In the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, people clapped, honked car horns and erupted in screams of joy as the news spread of Biden's victory. Some residents danced on a building's fire escape, cheering while others screamed "yes!" as they passed by.

Election 2020 Washington — Supporters of President-elect Joe Biden wave signs at the entrance to Trump National golf club as a truck flying Trump flags passes by in Sterling, Saturday Nov 7, 2020. Trupm was at the facility. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

In a reminder of the divided state of the country, however, about 200 Trump supporters gathered near the state capitol building in Lansing, Michigan, to demand a recount.

The networks' declaration that Biden had won came amid internal concerns within Trump's team about the strategy going forward and pressure on him to pick a more professional legal team to outline where they believe voter fraud took place and show evidence pointing toward it.

One Trump loyalist said Trump simply was not ready to admit defeat even though there would not be enough ballots thrown out in a recount to change the outcome. "There's a mathematical certainty that he's going to lose," the loyalist said.

READ: Joe Biden: Stumbles, tragedies and, now, delayed triumph

DIFFICULT TASK AHEAD

When Biden enters the White House on Jan 20, the oldest person to assume the office at age 78, he likely will face a difficult task governing in a deeply polarised Washington, underscored by a record nationwide voter turnout in a fight to the finish.

Both sides characterised the 2020 election as one of the most crucial in US history, as important as votes during the 1860s Civil War and the 1930s Great Depression.

For months, officials on both sides raised the spectre of the United States not being able to pull off a fair vote. In the end, however, voting at the polls proceeded with limited disruption as millions lined up patiently to vote. Thousands of election monitors from both parties worked for four days to ensure the votes were being counted.

Biden's victory was driven by strong support from groups including women, African Americans, white voters with college degrees and city-dwellers. He was more than 4 million votes ahead of Trump in the nationwide popular vote count.

Biden, who has spent half a century in public life as a US senator and then vice president under Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, will inherit a nation in turmoil over the coronavirus pandemic and the related economic slowdown as well as disruptive protests against racism and police brutality.

Biden has said his first priority will be developing a plan to contain and recover from the pandemic, promising to improve access to testing and, unlike Trump, to heed the advice of leading public health officials and scientists.

Biden also has pledged to restore a sense of normalcy to the White House after a presidency in which Trump praised authoritarian foreign leaders, disdained longstanding global alliances, refused to disavow white supremacists and cast doubt on the legitimacy of the US election system.

READ: Kamala Harris becomes first black woman elected as US vice president

Despite his victory, Biden will have failed to deliver the sweeping repudiation to Trump that Democrats had hoped for, reflecting the deep support the president enjoys despite his tumultuous four years in office.

This could complicate Biden's campaign promises to reverse key parts of Trump's legacy. These include deep Trump tax cuts that especially benefited corporations and the wealthy, hardline immigration policies, efforts to dismantle the 2010 Obamacare healthcare law and Trump's abandonment of such international agreements as the Paris climate accord and Iran nuclear deal.

Should Republicans keep control of the US Senate, they would likely block large parts of his legislative agenda, including expanding healthcare and fighting climate change. That prospect could depend on the outcome of four undecided Senate races, including two in Georgia.

Biden, set to become the 46th US president, mounted unsuccessful bids for the presidency in 1988 and 2008. His running mate, US Senator Kamala Harris, will become the first woman, the first black American and the first American of Asian descent to serve as vice president, the country's No 2 office.

"TRYING TO STEAL AN ELECTION"

For Trump, it was an unsettling end after an astonishing political rise. The real estate developer who established a nationwide brand as a reality TV personality upset Democrat Hillary Clinton to win the presidency in 2016 in his first run for elected office. Four years later, he becomes the first US president to lose a re-election bid since Republican George HW Bush in 1992.

Despite his draconian immigration curbs, Trump made surprising inroads with Latino voters. He also won battleground states such as Florida, where his pledge to prioritise the economy even if it increased the threat of the coronavirus appeared to have resonated.

READ: With Biden win, Trump joins rare club of defeated presidents

In the end, though, Trump failed to significantly widen his appeal beyond a committed core of rural and working-class white voters who embraced his right-wing populism and "America First" nationalism.

Prior to the election, Trump had refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he lost to Biden - and he stuck to that approach. He falsely declared victory long before counting was complete.

Before Biden's victory projection and with Trump's re-election chances fading as more votes were counted, the president launched an extraordinary assault on the country's democratic process from the White House on Thursday, falsely claiming the election was being stolen from him.

Offering no evidence, Trump assailed election workers and alleged fraud in the states where results from a dwindling set of uncounted votes pushed Biden nearer to victory.

"This is a case where they're trying to steal an election," Trump said on Thursday.

Urging patience as votes were counted, Biden responded on Twitter: "No one is going to take our democracy away from us. Not now, not ever."

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2020-11-07 18:56:15Z
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Biden beats Trump to be next US President after winning Pennsylvania: US networks - The Straits Times

WASHINGTON - Democratic candidate Joe Biden has been elected as the next President of the United States, according to calls from US media outlets on Saturday (Nov 7).

He was projected the winner of the presidential election after he was declared the winner of the battleground state of Pennsylvania, netting him 20 electoral votes and bringing his total to 273 - more than the 270 needed to win the White House.

California senator Kamala Harris will be the next Vice-President, making history as the first Black woman and the first person of South Asian descent to hold the nation’s second-highest office.

“I am honoured and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and in Vice-President-elect Harris,” Mr Biden, who served as senator for Delaware from 1973 to 2009 and as vice-president from 2009 to 2016 under president Barack Obama, said in a statement on Saturday.

“In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted. Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America,” he said.

The Associated Press, CNN, MSNBC and other networks made the call just before 11.30am Eastern Standard Time on Saturday morning, after Mr Biden’s lead in Pennsylvania grew to 30,000.

The former vice-president’s victory in Pennsylvania closes off incumbent President Donald Trump’s path to victory. Mr Trump currently has 214 electoral votes and cannot win the election without the 20 votes from Pennsylvania. His loss makes him the first incumbent President not to win reelection since Republican president George H.W. Bush’s defeat in 1992.

The win in Pennsylvania came on the fourth morning after Election Day. Mr Trump initially had the lead in Pennsylvania, Georgia and other states where counting was still ongoing, but that lead narrowed then vanished as mail-in ballots and votes from urban centres, which heavily favored Mr Biden, were counted.

Mr Biden, who will be America’s 46th president, will also be its oldest when he is sworn in in January. He turns 78 in two weeks and had made two unsuccessful runs for the presidency previously.

The Trump campaign has mounted a campaign of lawsuits to stop or challenge the counts in battleground states, which the Biden campaign has criticised as meritless and distracting.

But the election, which came amid a pandemic that has killed nearly 240,000 Americans so far and after a summer of racial justice protests, revealed a deeply divided America.

People react as the media announces Biden's win outside the State Capitol building, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. PHOTO: REUTERS

Mr Biden has also won the popular vote, netting a record of 74.8 million votes in total and counting - more than 4.3 million votes more than Mr Trump, whose tally stands at 70.6 million so far.

Mr Biden’s victory was made possible by his rebuilding of the “blue wall” as he flipped states in the upper Midwest which Mr Trump had himself in 2016: Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

He is also ahead in Georgia, where he would be the first Democrat to win the state since 1992, and in Arizona, which no Democrat has won since 1996.

The election saw Democrats win control of the House but with a smaller majority. Control of the Senate is still up in the air and may come down to run-off races in January in the state of Georgia.

Should the Democrats fail to retake the Senate, Mr Biden will enter the White House without control of both branches of Congress, likely limiting the sweeping reforms the party had hoped he could achieve.

Mr Biden, who ran during a particularly rancorous election on a message of uniting a fractured and divided America, called for Americans to come together and start the process of healing.

America, I’m honored that you have chosen me to lead our great country.
The work ahead of us will be hard, but I promise you this: I will be a President for all Americans — whether you voted for me or not.
I will keep the faith that you have placed in me. pic.twitter.com/moA9qhmjn8
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 7, 2020

“With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation,” he said on Saturday.

He added on Twitter: The work ahead of us will be hard, but I promise you this: I will be a President for all Americans — whether you voted for me or not.”

Biden supporters celebrate near the site of his planned election victory celebration in Wilmington, Delaware. PHOTO: REUTERS

Ms Harris echoed him on Twitter, writing: “This election is about so much more than Joe Biden or me. It’s about the soul of America and our willingness to fight for it. We have a lot of work ahead of us. Let’s get started.”

For live updates and results, follow our US election live coverage.

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2020-11-07 17:49:54Z
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Biden beats Trump to be next US President after winning Pennsylvania: AP, US networks - The Straits Times