Unresolved outcome risks stoking tension further in US

Washington

The US election was roiled by President Donald Trump's false claim of victory over Democratic nominee Joe Biden even with millions of ballots still to be counted in battleground states, and escalated by his threat to ask the Supreme Court to intervene.

As at Wednesday morning, Mr Biden had 238 electoral votes while Mr Trump had 213, leaving both shy of the 270 needed to secure immediate victories.

Counting was not complete in several closely contested states and could take days, the result of an unusually large number of absentee ballots cast due to the pandemic. The unresolved outcome risks stoking tension further in the US, beset by an economic downturn and the raging coronavirus.

Despite the president's claims, Mr Biden ended Election Day with a strong chance of unseating the incumbent. A Biden win in the battleground state of Arizona - which Mr Trump carried in 2016 - opened up a number of pathways to clinch a majority of Electoral College votes, primarily through Rust Belt states where both campaigns fought hard.

Mr Trump tried to create doubt about the legitimacy of the vote count early on Wednesday after spending weeks warning without evidence of ballot tampering that would favour the former vice-president. Mr Trump's comments - he warned of a "fraud on the American public" at a White House news conference just before 2.30 am - drew criticism from Mr Biden's campaign at least one of the president's allies.

"Frankly, we did win this election," he said, noting that he held a lead in a number of states whose results were still uncertain. "So we'll be going to the US Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop."

It was not immediately clear what Mr Trump meant, as states including Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia and North Carolina were counting legally cast votes. It is routine for states to continue counting votes after Election Day, and Pennsylvania said results likely would not be finalised for several days.

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, a close Trump ally, told ABC News he disagreed with Mr Trump's remarks about the election results, saying: "There's just no basis to make that argument tonight. There just isn't."

Earlier, Mr Biden told supporters sitting in cars outside the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware, that he was "on track to win this election". Mr Biden's campaign manager, Jen O'Malley Dillon, said in a statement that Mr Trump's remarks were "outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect" and "a naked effort to take away the democratic rights of American citizens".

S&P futures recovered from a brief tumble, and turned higher as concern eased that the US was headed for a contested election. Treasuries jumped as well. BLOOMBERG