Trump slams vote-counting process

WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump falsely declared yesterday he had won re-election against Mr Joe Biden, calling the vote-counting process "a fraud on the American public" and said he would ask the Supreme Court to intervene, although the final results are not out yet.

"We did win this election," Mr Trump said in an extraordinary speech delivered from the ceremonial East Room of the White House shortly before 2.30am local time (3.30pm Singapore time).

"This is a fraud on the American public," he added, complaining about ongoing vote counting after noting that he held leads in several states that had not been called in his favour, including Pennsylvania.

"Frankly we did win this election," said the Republican, who according to initial results was in a neck-and-neck race with Democrat Joe Biden. "So we'll be going to the US Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop."

He appeared to mean stopping the counting of mail-in ballots which can be legally accepted by state election boards after Tuesday's election, provided they were sent in time.

Later in a tweet, he alleged there had been "surprise ballot dumps" in states where he had been leading Mr Biden.

"Last night I was leading, often solidly, in many key states, in almost all instances Democrat-run and controlled," he wrote.

"Then, one by one, they started to magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted."

Mr Trump did not offer any evidence for his allegation of "ballot dumps" and there have been no reports of any irregularities.

The leads in numerous states had shifted back and forth between the candidates as votes were counted.

Minutes after Mr Trump's White House speech, the Associated Press (AP) declared Mr Biden had won Arizona, a state Mr Trump won in 2016. It was the first state to flip in the election and greatly complicates the President's path to re-election. Mr Biden also won three of Maine's four Electoral College votes, the AP said.

Earlier, Mr Biden said he felt good about his chances to win the presidency, cautioning supporters that it would take time to finish counting the votes.

"We knew this was gonna go long," the former vice-president told supporters in cars outside the Chase Centre in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, after he took to the outdoor stage while holding the hand of his wife Jill.

"But, look, we feel good about where we are. We really do. I'm here to tell you tonight we believe we're on track to win this election," said Mr Biden.

The Democratic nominee was on stage for just a few minutes in a decidedly low-key affair that echoed many of his campaign events.

"We knew because of the mail-in voting this would take longer than usual," said Mr Biden. "It ain't over until every ballot is counted, every vote is counted."

"Keep the faith, guys. We're gonna win this. Your patience is great," he added, to more cheers and honking.

Just as he concluded his remarks, Mr Trump responded in tweets.

"We are up big, but they are trying to steal the election," the President wrote. "We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Poles (sic) are closed!" Mr Trump wrote, apparently misspelling the word polls.

Twitter swiftly tagged the tweet as possibly misleading.

"It's not my place or Donald Trump's place to declare the winner of this election. It's the voters' place," Mr Biden said on Twitter in response to the President.

The only other Electoral College vote to flip so far, besides in Arizona, came from a congressional district in Nebraska that backed Mr Biden after favouring Mr Trump in 2016.

The AP, relied on by many news organisations for election calls, said in a statement that it "is not calling the presidential race yet because neither candidate has secured the 270 Electoral College votes needed to claim victory".

Mr Trump won Florida, a crucial prize in the race to the White House that closed off Mr Biden's hopes for an early knockout in the election. The President also won Texas, which Democrats had hoped might turn blue and entirely reshape the electoral map.

Ms Virginia Hansen, a Biden supporter who attended the Wilmington rally, said she did not dare to yet dream of a Biden win, fearing disappointment.

"I'm withholding any hope for now," said the 30-year-old.

BLOOMBERG, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS