By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Republican presidential nominee and former President of the US, Donald Trump, has claimed victory in the yet-to-be-concluded election and has pledged to “heal” the country.
He made this affirmation early Wednesday as results put him on the verge of beating Democrat, Kamala Harris in a stunning White House comeback.
His speech came after Fox News had declared him the winner, with no other US networks having made the call so far.
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 former president 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.
“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.
Trump’s Republican Party also seized control of the Senate, in a further blow to Democrats, flipping two seats to overturn a narrow Democratic majority.
Observers had predicted tight race between Harris and Trump, who would be the oldest ever President at the time of inauguration, the first felon president and only the second in history to serve non-consecutive terms.
Harris, 60, had aimed to be only the second Black and first person of South Asian descent to be President of US.
She made a dramatic entrance into the race when President Joe Biden dropped out in July.
She hammered home her message that Trump was a threat to democracy and her opposition to Trump-backed abortion bans.
Trump has vowed an unprecedented deportation campaign of millions of undocumented immigrants, in a campaign full of dark rhetoric.
The election is being watched closely around the world including in the war zones of Ukraine and the Middle East.
Trump has indicated he will cut aid to Kyiv’s battle against the Russian invasion.
