Republican Party candidate and former President Donald Trump was leading Vice President Kamala Harris, who represents the Democratic Party, as the votes in the United States presidential elections were counted on Wednesday.

Trump had won Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, Georgia, Ohio, West Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah and Alabama, among other states. This took his electoral college tally to 267 as of 1.15 pm Indian time on Wednesday, according to AP.

The popular votes determine the electoral college seats candidates win in every state. A candidate needs to win at least 270 out of the 538 electoral college votes in order to be elected as the president.

Trump, who was the president between 2017 and 2021, was leading in Michigan and Arizona.

With this, Trump had a 95% chance of winning the election, The New York Times projected.

Trump on Wednesday claimed victory even as the official vote count has not completed.

Addressing his supporters in Florida, Trump said that this will be the “golden age” for the United States. “We’re going to help our country heal,” he said.

“This is a magnificent victory for the American people, that will allow us to make America great again,” Trump said, referring to his long-standing campaign slogan.

Trump also vowed to fix the United States borders.

If formally elected, Trump will be the first president-elect to have been indicted and convicted of a felony, a crime defined in the United States as one that is punishable by death or imprisonment for over a year. He will also become the second person in history to secure non-consecutive presidential terms after Grover Cleveland in the late 19th century.

Harris had won California, New York, Washington, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota, Illinois, Colorado and New Mexico. This took her electoral college tally to 224 as of 1.15 pm Indian time.

The Democratic Party candidate was leading in Maine.

The counting was underway in several states even where American news agencies and local news organisations had called the race.

The election was expected to come down to just a few battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

If Harris wins the polls, she will become the first African American and Asian American to become the US president.

Watch: Kamala Harris vs Donald Trump LIVE analysis

While about 77 million persons had voted early, a significant majority of voters cast their ballots on Tuesday.

The counting of votes first started in the states on the country’s eastern coast where the polling had concluded. The state of Hawaii was the last state where voting ended at about 10.30 am Indian time on Wednesday.

The joint session of the United States Congress will formally count the electoral college votes in early January and certify the winner. The swearing-in ceremony is expected to take place on January 20, 2025.

Harris, a former senator from California, became the vice president in 2021 when Joe Biden became the president.

Harris had become the candidate of the Democratic Party after Biden ended his re-election campaign in July. Biden’s decision came after several senior party leaders urged the 81-year-old to quit the presidential race, expressing concerns about his age and health. Harris was Biden’s running mate in the campaign until then.

Biden had defeated Trump in the 2020 election. However, the Republican leader has repeatedly claimed that the polls that year were not fair and that there was a conspiracy to stop him from winning another term.

Trump’s assertion led to his supporters storming the US Capitol building, or parliament, on January 6, 2021, to prevent Biden from being certified as the next president.

In May, Trump became the first former United States president to be convicted of a felony after a court in New York found him guilty in a case pertaining to illegally influencing the 2016 presidential election.

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