Joe Biden has won the race to become the next US president, defeating Donald Trump following a cliff-hanger vote count after Tuesday’s election.

Mr Biden has won the key battleground of Pennsylvania, propelling him over the 270 electoral college vote threshold required to clinch the White House.

The Trump campaign has indicated their candidate does not plan to concede.

Mr Biden said it was now time for America to “unite and heal”.

“With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation,” he said.

He said he was “honoured and humbled” to be elected and said the record turnout in the face of “unprecedented obstacles” showed that democracy “beats deep in the heart of America”.

The result makes Mr Trump the first one-term president since the 1990s.

Mr Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, is set to become the first woman vice-president.

His victory is based on the unofficial results from states that have already finished counting their votes, and the expected results from states like Wisconsin where the count is continuing.

His projected win in Pennsylvania takes him to 273 electoral college votes.

The election has seen the highest turnout since 1900. Mr Biden has won more than 74 million votes so far, the most ever for a US presidential candidate. Mr Trump has drawn more than 70 million, the second-highest tally in history.

President Trump had falsely declared himself the winner of the election when vote counting was unfinished. He has since alleged irregularities in counting, but has not presented any evidence of election fraud.

His campaign has filed a barrage of lawsuits in various states and on Friday, as Mr Biden appeared on the cusp of victory, said: “This election is not over.”

The Trump campaign has indicated the incumbent president does not plan to concede
The election was fought as coronavirus cases and deaths continued to rise across the United States, with President Trump arguing a Biden presidency would result in lockdowns and economic gloom. Joe Biden accused the president of failing to impose sufficient measures to control the spread of Covid-19.

Joe Biden is now set to return to the White House, where he served for eight years as President Barack Obama’s deputy. At the age of 78, he will be the oldest president in American history.

Joe Biden’s projected victory after four days of painstaking vote-counting is the denouement of an extraordinary campaign, conducted during a devastating pandemic and widespread social unrest, and against a most unconventional of incumbents.

In his third try for the presidency, Mr Biden found a way to navigate the political obstacles and claim a win that, while perhaps narrow in the electoral college tally, is projected to surpass Mr Trump’s overall national total by at least four million votes.

With his projected victory, Joe Biden becomes the oldest man ever elected to the White House. He brings with him the first woman vice-president, whose multi-ethnic heritage carries with it numerous other firsts. Source:BBC