Trump prematurely claims winning 2020 vote

KABUL (Pajhwok): Claiming prematurely that he has won the 2020 election, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday alleged fraud and promised challenging official state results.

Results from the bitterly-contested race could take days to resolve. However, Trump asserted his victory in several states that are still counting votes, The Washington Post reported.

Speaking at the White House, he claimed winning several states that were still counting ballots, including Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

At the same time, his rival Joe Biden also insisted: “We believe we’re on track to win this election” and cited Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, where votes were still being tallied. “It isn’t over till every vote is counted.”

Surveys suggest Trump could win Texas, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Missouri, Alabama, South Carolina, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Utah, West Virginia, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota and Wyoming, plus three electoral votes in Nebraska.

Biden is likely to win California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Virginia, Washington, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Colorado, Connecticut, Oregon, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, Delaware and the District of Columbia, plus one electoral vote in Nebraska.

Despite Trump’s call for a halt to counting, voting did stop and polls closed Tuesday night. Pennsylvania, Michigan and some other states may take several days to complete mail-in votes.

Preliminary results indicate Biden has won Arizona and its 11 electoral votes, flipping a critical battleground state that Trump won four years ago.

The Democrat’s victory is seen as a huge blow to Trump’s reelection chances. Over the past seven decades. Arizona has supported a Democratic presidential runner only once.

Besides Texas, Trump also won Florida and its 29 electoral votes. A loss in the state would have eliminated Trump’s odds to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to retain the White House.