United States: 11 Republican senators to oppose certification of Biden victory
View of the US Congress where the Senate sits on December 31, 2020. AFP - JOSHUA ROBERTS
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3 min
Eleven elected Republican Senate officials announced this Saturday, January 2 that they would oppose the certification by the US Congress of the result of the presidential election next week, a final attempt that could delay the confirmation of Joe Biden's victory, but not prevent it.
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So far, only one senator, Josh Hawley, has said he intends to challenge President-elect Joe Biden's victory on Wednesday, a rare move that risks exposing the fault lines within the Republican Party.
"
Congress should immediately appoint an electoral commission, with full authority to investigate
" possible "
electoral fraud
", said in a statement the eleven elected members of the upper house, echoing the unfounded allegations hammered by Donald Trump for two month.
This commission will "
conduct a 10-day emergency audit of the results in the States
" where the two candidates were neck and neck, asked these elected officials, led by the influential senator from Texas Ted Cruz.
If this audit does not take place, "
we will vote on January 6 to reject voters from disputed states
," they added.
In the United States, the tenant of the White House is chosen by indirect universal suffrage, and
the electoral college ratified the victory of Joe Biden on December 14
, with 306 voters against 232 for Donald Trump.
The House and Senate are due to meet Wednesday to certify these results, a procedure that is usually a mere formality.
But the outgoing president still refuses to acknowledge his defeat, and urged his supporters to rally in Washington that day.
Not enough voices for the process to succeed
In the Democratic-majority House of Representatives, more than a hundred Republican elected officials plan to vote against certification, according to CNN.
But in the House as in the Senate, there will not be enough votes for their approach to succeed.
“
We are not naive.
We expect the majority, if not all Democrats, and perhaps more than a few Republicans, to vote otherwise,
”the eleven senators themselves recognized in their press release.
Donald Trump has regularly urged Republican elected officials
to support him in his crusade to challenge the results of the
November
presidential election
.
This has totally failed in the courts.
A new legal action, led by Republican elected representative Louie Gohmert, was rejected Friday in Texas for lack of sufficient information.
His complaint was intended to demonstrate that Vice President Mike Pence, who will chair the Congress session on January 6, could himself declare the results invalid in some states.
(With AFP)
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United States
Joe biden
USA Elections 2020
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