US Elections: Trump claims false victory as Biden Leads

President Donald Trump has falsely claimed victory over democratic rival, Joe Biden with millions of votes still uncounted in a White House race that will not be decided until a handful of states complete vote counting.

While Biden has said he is confident of winning the contest once the vote are counted, Trump appears at the White House with his wife, Firstlady Melania Trump who stood by his side during the speech as well as his son-in-law, Jared Kushner with his daughter, Ivana Trump.

Trump stated in his speech that his lawyers will be taking his case to the US Supreme Court without specifying what they would claim.  

Trump said

“This is a fraud on the America public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election. So our goal now is to ensure the integrity for the good of this nation. This is a very big moment. This is a major fraud on our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we will be going to the US Supreme Court.

Polls have closed and voting has stopped across the country but election laws in the US states require all votes to be counted and many states routinely takes days to finish counting legal ballots.

More votes seem to be counted this year than in the past as people voted by mail and in person because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Trump won the battleground of Florida, Ohio and Texas dashing the hopes of Biden for a decisive early victory. However, Biden has said he was on track to winning the White House.

Human Rights Watch Director warns against premature declaration

The Executive Director, Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, has warned against declaring victory prematurely and for a fair result to be announced and while noting that there is need for caution.

Roth said in an interview that

“Now is time to ensure that every vote counts. Beyond the risks, there’s a possibility that candidates might declare victory prematurely or they might try to delegitimize some aspect of the election by making unfounded claims. Leaders of democracies around the world have a very huge role to play in guaranteeing that the ballots of the voters count”.

Trump’s move has confirmed worries democrats had earlier on voiced in the past weeks that Trump will seek to dispute the election results that would set up any form of legal or political drama in which the presidency could be determined by some combination of the courts, state politicians and congress.

Biden Leads Trump In Electoral College Votes

Biden has captured 18 states including his home state Delaware and big prizes California and New York, as well as the US capital. As with Trump, so far, all states claimed by Biden were won by Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.

So far, that gives Biden 248 electoral votes and Trump 214, after Nebraska split its electoral votes between the two — four for Trump and one for Biden, CNN and Fox News projected.

Biden has also won in Arizona and Wisconsin.

A number of key battleground states are still up in the air, including Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

The magic number of electoral votes is 270 and Biden goes closer, while Trump follows behind.