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US Electoral College Set to Confirm Biden Win Monday
Long a mere formality, a vote on Monday by members of the Electoral College to formally recognise Joe Biden as the next US president has taken on unusual import this year with Donald Trump refusing to admit defeat.
The results of the November 3 vote have been certified by each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia; the Democrat won with a record 81.3 million votes, or 51.3 percent of those cast, to 74.2 million, and 46.8 percent, for the Republican president.
But in the United States, the occupant of the White House is chosen by indirect universal suffrage, with each state allocating its electors — whose numbers are essentially based on population — to the candidate who carried the state.
The results confirm an easy victory for Biden, with 306 of the 538 electoral votes, to 232 for Trump, with 270 required for election.
Electoral College members meet Monday to formalise the process, though the electors actually meet separately in each state.
Biden will then deliver a speech in the evening to celebrate the latest confirmation of his win and “the strength and resilience” of US democracy — a clear jab at Trump’s unprecedented stance.
Electors are local political officials or activists, civil society figures or friends of candidates.
Most are unknown to the wider public, though national personalities occasionally take part — like Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in the 2016 election but who will vote Monday in New York to confirm President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
– No Trump concession –
Although there have been a few “faithless electors” in past years — who cast votes for someone other than the candidate who won their state — there have never been enough to change an election outcome.
So Biden’s victory will become all the more official on Monday.
But Trump, still the legal occupant of the White House until January 20, has continued to make baseless assertions that the November vote was the “MOST CORRUPT ELECTION IN U.S. HISTORY,” as he tweeted yet again on Sunday.
He added, “How do states and politicians confirm an election where corruption and irregularities are documented throughout?”
In fact, his campaign has not been able to document any widespread fraud, and its legal challenges to the vote — in dozens of suits, heard by scores of judges — have virtually all been dismissed, often in scathing language.
– An ultimate humiliation –
In an ultimate humiliation, the US Supreme Court — despite having a conservative majority assured by three Trump appointees — on Friday bluntly refused to even consider two Republican challenges to the vote.
Large numbers of Republican lawmakers are on record as backing Trump’s false claims of fraud.
Some may finally be willing to recognize Biden’s victory once the Electoral College ratifies it.
But with polls showing that as few as one in four Republican voters accept the election results as valid, Trump is not expected to give in anytime soon.
“WE HAVE JUST BEGUN TO FIGHT!!!” he tweeted.
This weekend, when asked on Fox News whether he would attend Biden’s inauguration on January 20 — as demanded by protocol and centuries of tradition — the former real estate magnate snapped, “I don’t want to talk about that.”
The president might yet seek to use America’s drawn-out transition process in one last attempt to reverse the outcome: some elected officials allied with Trump have speculated about contesting the result on January 6 when Congress is to formally validate the Electoral Congress tally.
Such a maneuver is given virtually no chance of succeeding.
Regardless, Trump’s struggle against a repeatedly confirmed result seems sure to leave Biden facing a steep challenge with the country more divided than ever.
(AFP)
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
