Mr. Donald Trump has been re-elected as the 47th president of the United States of America.
As of the time of filing this report, Trump has scored 277 electoral college votes, while his opponent, Democrat Party’s Kamala Harris, has scored 224. A successful candidate needs 270 electoral college votes to win.
World leaders have begun to send in their congratulations to the newly elected president.
As jubilant supporters cheered and chanted “USA”, Trump took to the stage at his campaign headquarters in Florida along with his wife Melania and several of his children.
“We are going to help our country heal,” the Republican said.
“It’s a political victory that our country has never seen before.”
US networks have called the swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina for the 78-year-old, and he led the Democratic vice president in the others although they have not been called yet.
Gloom swiftly descended on Harris’s camp.
“You won’t hear from the vice president tonight but you will hear from her tomorrow,” Cedric Richmond, Harris campaign co-chair, told a watch party in Washington as supporters left.
In a further blow to Democrats, Trump’s Republican Party also seized control of the Senate, flipping two seats to overturn a narrow Democratic majority.
A Trump victory threatens to cause shockwaves around the world, as US allies in Europe and Asia fear a return of his nationalist policies and his praise of autocrats like Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
But the US dollar surged and bitcoin hit a record high while most equity markets advanced as traders bet on a victory for Trump as the results rolled in.