Joseph Robinette Biden of the Democratic Party has won Tuesday’s presidential election to become the 46th elected President of the United States.
Biden, 77, defeated the Republican incumbent, Donald Trump, by securing 273 electoral college votes against Trump’s 214, after four grueling days of vote count that kept Americans on edge.
The Electoral College refers to the group of presidential electors required by the constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of electing the president and Vice President.
Article II section 1, clause 2 provides that each state shall appoint electors selected in a manner determined by its legislature.
There are currently 538 electors in the Electoral College, and an absolute majority of electoral votes—270 or more—is required for the college to elect the president and vice president.
If no candidate achieves an absolute majority, a contingent election is held whereby the U.S. Congress is required to elect the president and vice president.
The former Vice President, who turns 78 on November 20, will become the oldest president in U.S. history, after Ronald Reagan, the 40th president, who left office in 1989 at 77.
History has also been made in Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, who is now the first female vice president in America’s history.
The senator from California has also emerged as the first woman of colour to be elected to the White House.
By this result, Trump has become the first one-term U.S. president since the 1990s.
In a statement, Biden said he was “honored and humbled“ by the trust the American people had placed in him and in the Vice President-elect.
“In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted. Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America. 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. We are the United States of America. And there’s nothing we can’t do, if we do it together”.
