US Election 2016: Shock and celebrations

Winners and losers pictured as the drama of Republican candidate Donald Trump's election victory unfolded.

Republican Donald Trump stunned the world on Tuesday by defeating heavily favoured Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House, ending eight years of Democratic rule and sending the United States on a new path.

A wealthy property developer and former reality TV host, Trump rode a wave of anger towards Washington insiders to defeat Clinton, whose establishment resume includes stints as first lady, US senator and secretary of state.

Courtesy; Aljazeera

US election results: The maps and analysis that explain Donald Trump's shock victory to become President

Donald Trump has pledged to be a president "for all Americans" after being elected president of the United States, capturing crucial victories over Hillary Clinton in a remarkable show of strength.

The president-elect addressed supporters at his victory party in New York City after his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton called him to concede.

The Republican confounded pre-election polls by taking a series of key battleground states, including Florida, Ohio, and North Carolina, before stunningly carrying Pennsylvania, a state that had not backed a Republican for president since 1988.

The celebrity businessman clinched victory after capturing Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes, putting him over the 270 threshold.

Mr Trump will govern with a Congress fully under Republican control. The GOP fended off a Democratic challenge in the Senate and the party also extended its grip on the House.

Our final prediction had Hillary Clinton on 206 strong or leaning electoral college votes, while Trump was on 164. This left 168 up for grabs in swing states, meaning the race was well and truly open.

A candidate needs to secure 270 out of 538 electoral college votes in order to win the presidency. They claim these by winning individual states that each award a certain number of votes. States with more people have more electoral college votes.

Presidential results maps
The electoral map is important. Each state is worth a certain number of electoral college votes, so Trump and Clinton need to build a coalition of states to reach the magic number of 270.

We will fill our maps in as the results are announced.

Our chart below sizes each state by their number of electoral college votes, showing how the big states have the power to tilt the election.

 

Probable results on our maps are based on voting counts that are currently ongoing and are not final. We are showing the candidate that looks most likely to win that state.
 

The key states in the election
Swing states with a lot of electoral votes to distribute, such as Florida and Ohio, have been targetted a lot by Clinton and Trump in recent weeks. How they end up voting will have a lot of influence on the final result.

States like Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia have the power to swing the election. So far, neither Trump nor Clinton has a significant lead in these crucial states.

 

Demographics could be of importance here. Polling has revealed a country divided down demographic lines. A country where men and whites tend to back Trump, while women and ethnic minorities flock to the Democrat's candidate.

How these demographics are distributed among key states may be essential.

 

Trump has triumphed in Ohio. This reliable bellwether state is worth a very handy 18 electoral college votes but it’s claim to fame is that it is the only one to have backed the successful presidential candidate in every election since 1964.

As such its result is seen as being very significant when determining the outcome of the race nationwide, with polling in Ohio was showing Trump marginally ahead of Clinton at the start of November. Situated on the Great Lakes, it is the seventh most populous state in the country.

Minority ethnic voters hold less sway here, with 83 per cent of the population being white according to the 2010 census compared to 72 per cent across the US as a whole.

 

Trump has won Florida’s vote for the 2016 presidency, marginally ahead of Clinton. Florida has been one of the hardest to call swing states in this election with the margins between the two candidates in recent polling being too close to call.

A week before the big day, polls were showing that Trump had taken a slight lead in the battle to take the state’s 29 electoral college votes. Florida is at once the oldest and one of the most racially diverse in America, and its voting in the past five presidential races has followed the result of the country as a whole.

Both candidates have had multiple campaign stops here in recent weeks. The state played a pivotal role in the 2000 election, when out of more than 5.8 million votes Bush beat Gore by 537 votes to claim all of its electoral college votes.

 

Clinton has triumphed in Virginia. Although not quite the boost that a state the size of Florida would give, Virginia’s 13 electoral college votes will be very handy addition for Clinton. Prior to Obama’s victory in 2008, Virginia had been a red state for the past forty years.

Nowadays, one in five of its people are black or African American, part of an increasingly moderate population based in its urban areas.

This shifting of demographics meant that the state was expected to stay Democrat this time around, with polls showing Clinton eight points clear of Trump at the end of October. Situated on the Atlantic coast, Virginia was the first colonial possession established in British America.

 

North Carolina’s voters have chosen Trump as their preferred presidential candidate. This result will be a blow for Clinton as North Carolina has been one of the toughest states to call in this election. Its 15 electoral college votes means that it is a valuable prize in the race to that all important 270 mark.

North Carolina was highly coveted this year with the candidates making multiple campaign stops there in the fortnight leading up to election day.

While Obama won it in 2008 with the assistance of demographic shifts and liberal urban areas, Romney managed to claim it for the Republicans in 2012 - the only swing state Obama lost in the last presidential election. This southeastern state is the ninth most populous in America and has a lower white population, at 64 per cent, than the average state.
 

Which states did Trump swing from Obama?
There are at least four states that swung from Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016: Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa. All of these were essential battlegrounds that both candidates canvassed hard.

Congressional elections
The Senate and the House of Representatives, the two chambers that comprise America's legislature, also have elections. Both of these chambers were in Republican hands prior to voting.

Senators are being elected in 34 states with the Republicans having a strong chance of holding onto their majority in the chamber.

The Republicans are on course to hold onto the Senate with a slightly reduced majority.

 

The House of Representatives is held more firmly in Republican hands with their majority of 59 looking very difficult to overturn even if Clinton had had a good day.

All 435 seats in the House were up for re-election with many having already called the result in favour of the republicans.

 

Courtesy; Telegraph News

What happens now that Donald Trump has won? The first 100 days of a Trump Presidency

Donald Trump has promised that as president he will honour the pledge stitched into his white and red baseball caps: Make America Great Again.

The former television entertainer’s campaign has been a roller coaster of triumphs and pitfalls, but his love for hyperbole has never wavered. With him in the White House, Mr Trump has said, his supporters are going to "win so big" they will soon be "sick of winning".

When it comes to mapping out the details of a Trump presidency, the Republican candidate has been no less extravagant.

It is customary in American presidential elections that a candidate sets out a vision for their first term in the Oval office.

But ever keen to be “the greatest”, Mr Trump has slashed the timeline of his proposals from 100 days to one.

At an address delivered in historic Gettysburg last month, Mr Trump laid out a “contract with the American people” that would begin with a “very busy first day”.

He proceeded to detail 24-hours designed to erase traces of Barack Obama's presidency and set America on a protectionist, nativist, track.

Immigration
Mr Trump's rhetoric on immigration came to define his presidential campaign.

Though slightly more carefully worded, his proposal once in office remains some of the most divisive legislation on the issue.

He has quietly dropped his call to remove all undocumented immigrants from the US, a move that, aside from being so impractical it might be impossible, experts have warned would damage the US economy by taking too many people out of the labour market.

Instead he would immediately begin the process of deporting illegal immigrants with criminal records.

Recent studies estimate there are fewer than 168,000 such people in the United States. But Mr Trump put the number at some two million, suggesting his calculations of "criminals", people who have had minor run-ins with the law, such as getting a speeding ticket.

He will also "suspend immigration from terror-prone regions where vetting cannot safely occur".

Though the terminology is vague, Syria would almost certainly be on this list. Mr Trump has claimed that the government "does not know" who the refugees it lets in are from the country, despite their being scrutinised for up to two years before being allowed to enter the US.

And last but not least there is the wall. This would not happen on his first day, he admits, but eventually a Trump administration would push through legislation "build a wall" along the southern border of the United States and make Mexico bear the costs.

He has not however, explained in detail how this would happen.

Reform Washington

Donald Trump has promised to "drain the swamp" of big money Washington politics.

In one of his most popular campaign pitches, he has said he will "reduce the corrupting influence of special interests".

Speaking in Gettysburg, at the site where in 1863 Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous speech to unite Americans, Mr Trump sought to mimic the legendary leader, promising to reinstate a government “of, by and for the people”.

His day one reforms include a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on all members of congress and a five-year-ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service.

In an effort to shrink the size of government the nominee called for a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce its workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health).

Trade
A Trump presidency would break from the traditional Republican commitment to free trade, imposing a set of protectionist policies to close America's economic borders.

He will immediately announce his intention to "renegotiate" the North American Free Trade agreement with Canada and Mexico.

He would cancel participation in the Tran-Pacific Partnership, a controversial trade arrangement with 12 countries.

The pact aims to deepen economic ties between these nations, slashing tariffs and fostering trade to boost growth. But critics argue that it will also also intensify competition between countries' labour forces.

Where the US election candidates stand on | Trade

Hillary Clinton
Has been a free trade advocate throughout her career, but moved to the left on trade during her primary election campaign against Bernie Sanders. She now opposes the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Donald Trump

Has proposed aggressive tactics on trade for decades, including forcing China and other countries to pay for the privilege of selling their goods in the US and punishing US companies that move jobs overseas. He also opposes the TPP.

Foreign Policy
Donald Trump has said that as president he may not guarantee protection to fellow NATO countries who come under attack.

In an interview just before the Republican convention Mr Trump said America would help only if that country had fulfilled its "obligations" within the alliance.

It marked the first time in post-World War Two era that a candidate for president suggested putting conditions on America's defense of its key allies.

Advocating an ultra "America first" view of the world Mr Trump has also threatened to withdraw troops from Europe and Asia if those allies fail to pay more for American protection.

Mr Trump has flip-flopped on key issues including Syria. Most recently the candidate implied that he sees Bashar al-Assad, the country's dictator, as the lesser evil when compared with US backed rebel opposition groups, some of whom have Islamist leanings.

He has promised to "bomb the hell" out of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

 

Where the US election candidates stand on | Foreign policy

Hillary Clinton
Advocates an interventionist foreign policy, contending that a power vacuum is created when America does not step in globally.

She supported the Iran nuclear deal, is against ground troops to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and has taken a confrontational approach towards Russia and China. She supported the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
 

Donald Trump
Describes his foreign policy as “America First”, and says as commander-in-chief he would only engage the US in fights that were in America’s self interest and where clear, definable victory was achievable.

He would force key allies to pay more for their own defence and ease tensions with China and Russia. He has wavered on whether to send ground troops to fight Isil, but estimated in March that 20-30,000 would be necessary. He claims to have opposed the Iraq invasion, although he briefly supported it before reversing course.

Energy and the environment
In a deeply disappointing development for environmentalists, Mr Trump plans to cancel billions of dollars in payments to the United Nations climate change programs.

He has said he would redirect the funds to pay for infrastructure projects in the US.

He has also promised to lift restrictions on fracking and boost American oil and natural gas production.

He would lift roadblocks to the Keystone Pipeline. Environmental activists fought hard to convince the Obama administration to stop the infrastructure project, warning against the effects of the increase in oil production.

It’s path between Alberta, Canada and Nebraska in the United States was also said to damage fragile ecosystems.

 

Wipe Barack Obama from the history books
One of Mr Trump's first actions will be to try to erase the effects of Mr Obama's presidency.

The Republican candidate has promised to cancel every "executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama".

According to Stephen Moore, an official campaign adviser, the campaign has sought to identify “maybe twenty-five executive orders” that their candidate could reverse: “Trump spends several hours signing papers—and erases the Obama Presidency,” he said.

 

Chief among them is the Affordable Care Act. Also known as “Obamacare”, the president’s signature policy has brought health insurance to some 12.7 million people who would have struggled to afford medical cover.

But it has also pushed up insurance premiums for Americans not on government assistance.

Mr Trump would replace this with another, system, the “Health Savings Accounts”. This plan would give more power to states over how to handle funds.

But beyond that critics have said that the Trump campaign has failed to explain how it differs significantly from Mr Obama’s healthcare plan, and how they would implement it.

Like with much of his presidential campaign, Mr Trump appears to be asking the American people to trust him and wait and see.

 

Courtesy; Telegraph News

Latinos in Arizona rally against Trump

Hispanic voters in Arizona back Clinton fearing a Trump win would mean more border controls and anti-migrant policies.

Nogales, Arizona - On the US-Mexico border, Horacio, standing on the American side in southern Arizona state, is speaking to his father through the gaps in the iron pillar wall that divides the two countries.

They had not seen each other in nine years. Horacio's father travelled nearly 1,000km from Sinaloa state in northwest Mexico to see him through the fence from the Mexican side of the border.

Horacio's wife and children live here in the border town of Nogales, in Arizona. He cannot risk leaving the United States because he won't be allowed to come back.

He is among the millions of undocumented migrants in the US, whom Donald Trump has threatened to deport if he is elected the president.

This is just one of the many examples in Arizona that show how personal this election has become. It is not just about the role of the military, the economy or the US role in the world. It is about how people's lives will be affected if Trump wins the presidency.

"I am afraid," Horacio, who declined to reveal his full name, told Al Jazeera. "My work permit could be revoked because I have to renew it every year. If Trump wins … what will happen to me?"

Grassroots initiative
Nobody really knows the answer to Horacio's question. Trump has vowed to build a wall on the US-Mexico border to stop migrants from Latin American countries, particularly Mexico, from entering the US territory.

The Republican Party presidential hopeful has called Mexicans "rapists and murderers" .

But even though many of his speeches have generated fear, they have also generated rage.

The Latino population in Arizona has grown over the years. They now form one third of the total population of more than 6 million.

Historically they have not been active politically but since 2010, when Arizona passed the nation's toughest immigration laws, they have become more vocal about their rights.

They are on the streets, knocking on every door and asking people to head to the polls.

Maria Rodriguez was deported in 2011 but was allowed to come back in 2014 because her two college-going children are in the United States. She has applied for political asylum in the US because, she says, her life is in danger in Mexico.

Rodriguez has no authorisation to work, but she is volunteering to help mobilise the Latino population to go to the polls.

She is part of the BAZTA Arpaio campaign - a grassroots initiative driven by young Latinos against long-time Sherriff Joe Arpaio, of Maricopa County, Arizona.

"Arpaio has persecuted us, harassed us, he uses racial profiling. Arpaio has to go," Rodriguez told Al Jazeera. Arpaio is seeking re-election this year and he calls himself Trump's political soulmate.

Tougher border controls
People are mobilising like never before to stop Trump and his ally Arpaio. This does not mean that everyone likes Hillary Clinton - the Democratic presidential candidate. But many here say that right now it is the lesser evil.

But beating the Republican Party in Arizona is not easy. Out of the past 16 presidential elections, the Republicans were victorious 15 times.

"Arizona is Republican. More Latinos may be voting but they won't beat us so easily," Raymundo Torres, an Arizona resident, told Al Jazeera.

"My family was from Mexico over 100 years ago but that cannot justify entering the country illegally. We need serious policies to fight illegals," said Torres. He was a Republican, he said, because he respected conservative [party] values.

Although Trump is not perfect, at least the Republican candidate, stood closer to conservative party values, he said, than Clinton.

Many in Arizona who will vote for Trump are looking for tougher border controls and an improvement in the economy. Many seem to be tired of the political class and want to try something new and that's why many are voting for Trump.

But an increase in the Latino population in Arizona and their involvement in political activism has increased the Democrat Party's chances of beating the Republicans.

Courtesy; Al Jazeera News

What Donald Trump needs to win the US election

Given the polls, 270 electoral votes for the Republican candidate is unlikely. But impossible?

The magic number is 270.

It really doesn't matter if you win the popular vote across the country. Just ask Al Gore, the defeated Democrat in 2000.

The US presidential election is decided on electoral college votes. Each state gets one electoral college vote for each congressional district it has and for each senate seat it holds.

So New York with 27 members of Congress and two senators has 29 electoral college votes. North Carolina has 15. Washington DC gets the same number as the least populous state, so it has three.

Every state allocates their votes on a winner-takes-all basis, except Maine and Nebraska. There they use the "congressional district method" to select one electoral college winner within each congressional district by popular vote while giving two electoral college votes to the statewide winner.

That electoral maths give the Democrats a head start. In every election since 2000 they have won states that give them 242 electoral college votes. Republicans start with a virtually guaranteed 179.

Then the calculations begin. How to reach the magic number?

With Hillary Clinton ahead in polls, it will be hard for Donald Trump.

Let's look at the polls and see what he needs to do.

Florida is the biggest prize of the night. Lose that and Trump supporters can prepare to go to bed.

However, he is ahead there. If he adds Ohio and Iowa, where he also has a narrow lead, and squeaks out Nevada where he's behind in early voting, then New Hampshire and North Carolina become critical.

He's behind in both places but hopes there is a silent majority in both which have been too embarrassed or too wary of declaring their support, and that they are many enough to carry the day.

If he does that, we would be in the incredible situation of a 269-269 tie.

Then Trump would be hoping to win the 2nd congressional district in the state of Maine which doesn't deliver its electoral college votes in a state wide, winner-takes-all block.

Given the polls, such a scenario is unlikely. But impossible?

Trump has spent time in Michigan, Wisconsin and even Virginia.

He believes his trade policies appeal to the white working classes in those states and that block has enough voters to peel away one of those reliably Democratic states.

If he succeeds, he changes the electoral college map and this is an entirely different game.

It is important to note that Mitt Romney thought he would be able to do the same four years ago and was much closer in some polls. He failed.

So Donald Trump has thrown himself into this final Election Day campaigning knowing he is behind despite all his bluster of doing incredibly well everywhere.

He has the harder task to win but how often have the words extraordinary, unprecedented and incredible been used in this election campaign?

Want to bet we won't use them again?

Courtesy; Al Jazeera News

Jill Stein, Gary Johnson and 'other candidates'

Dozens of candidates are challenging Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, with virtually no chance of winning.

The race for the White House this year is generally described as a competition between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton. But in fact, dozens of others are also running.

Since 1869, the occupant of the Oval Office has been either a Democrat or a Republican. But with this year’s main contenders being unprecedentedly unpopular, other candidates have gained some traction.

Because of the way the American political system is built, so-called third-party candidates basically have zero chances of winning..

Under the electoral college vote, the popular vote does not matter. Instead, within each state, the candidate who wins the most votes takes all that state’s electoral votes.

The term third-party is used for American political parties other than the Republican and Democratic parties.

These are some of the more prominent, or colourful, candidates.

Gary Johnson - Libertarians

Formerly a Republican. Was governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003. Made headlines in September when he said "What is Aleppo?" in response to a question about the war in Syria.

The party believes in a reduced role of the government. Several of its members hold elected office in state and local government.

Johnson got 1,275,971 votes (0.99 percent of the popular vote) in 2012.

Jill Stein - Green Party

A physician, politician and activist. Was the member of the Lexington, Massachusetts local government from 2005 to 2011.

The party describes itself as "eco-Socialist" and anti-war, propagating environmentalism and social justice.

Stein won 469,501 votes (0.36 percent of the popular vote) in 2012.

Evan McMullin - Independent

The former CIA officer markets himself as a conservative alternative to Trump and Clinton.

Has come up as a potential challenger to the Republican in his home state, Utah.

When Trump said he had never heard of him, McMullin hit back, saying: "You've never heard of me because while you were harassing women at beauty pageants, I was fighting terrorists abroad."

Darrell Castle - Constitution Party

A lawyer who served as a Marine during the Vietnam War.

Formerly the American Taxpayers Party, the party advocates a strict interpretation of the Constitution and more power for states and localities.




Jim Hedges - Prohibition Party Born in Iowa, Hedges served as a musician in the US Marines, later becoming a community organiser, and a volunteer with the Salvation Army.

Campaigning on a socially conservative Prohibitionist Party platform, Hedges believes in highlighting the dangers of drinking alcohol, drug taking, gambling, and spousal abuse, among other things.

Laurence Kotlikoff - It's Our Children The Harvard-educated economist at Boston University has made the economy the focus of his campaign.

Kotlikoff wants to tackle the fall in real wages and warns that low-skilled legal immigration is pricing out American workers from the jobs market.

Princess Khadija - Revolutionary Party Princess is campaigning on a platform of ending police brutality, universal healthcare, legalising cannabis, and introducing a universal basic income for all citizens.

She used her presidential candidacy papers to propose to rap star Lil Wayne.

Vermin Supreme A performance artist and activist. Often clad with a rubber boot for a hat.

He has said that if elected president, he will pass a law requiring people to brush their teeth and give every American a pony. Placed third in the New Hampshire Democratic primary in 2012, with 833 votes.

True to his word, Supreme spent the evening before the vote asking Americans what they would name their pony.

Alyson Kennedy - Socialist Workers Party Born in Indianapolis, Kennedy spent her youth fighting for civil rights and against the white supremacist KKK.

The former coal miner is standing for president on a platform of overturning the capitalist system that she says is at the root of the economic ills in the US.

The Socialist Workers Party also campaigns against scapegoating of immigrants, minorities, and foreign military intervention.

Tom Hoefling - Life, Family, Constitution Hoefling is a Omaha-born conservative and father of nine who is campaigning on a defence of traditional values.

The talk-show host and author, who is a pro-life activist, says both Clinton and Trump are dangerous.

Courtesy; Al Jazeera News

US election: America votes to elect new president

Millions of Americans vote to decide whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will be the nation's 45th president.

Millions of Americans have been queuing at polling stations to choose the 45th US president after a long and bitter contest between Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump .

Polling locations on Tuesday will continue to open across the US all the way to Hawaii, the state farthest to the west. About 40 million out of the more than 200 million registered voters have already cast their ballots in early voting, which is offered in 34 out of the 50 states.

In a kick-off midnight vote, the residents of tiny Dixville Notch in New Hampshire cast their traditional first-in-nation ballots with a total of eight votes - Clinton getting four and Trump, two.

The winner will be inaugurated on January 20 and will succeed Democrat Barack Obama, the nation's first African-American president, who has been at the helm since 2008. A candidate needs 270 Electoral College votes to become a president.
No full results or exit polls will be available before polling stations begin to close on the US East Coast from 7:00pm local time (00:00 GMT on Wednesday), and it may be three or more hours after that before the direction of the race becomes clear.

In Virginia horse country, balmy south Florida, and busy Manhattan long lines snaked into the streets outside voting stations.

"I'm excited. I can't believe I finally get to vote," said Jose Maria Molleda, 63, a new US citizen voting at a Presbyterian church in Clifton, Virginia, where a crowd of 150 gathered before dawn for the 6am local time poll opening in the swing state.

 

Clinton started her day by casting her vote in Chappaqua, New York, where she and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, have lived since he left office in 2001. If Clinton wins she will become the nation's first female president.

"I know the responsibility that goes with this," she said as she greeted people waiting at the polling station to see her. "So many people are counting on the outcome of this election and what it means for our country, and I'll do the best I can if I'm fortunate enough to win today."

Donald Trump cast his ballot at a school near his New York home, after which the Republican nominee quipped to reporters that it was a "tough decision" to make his voting choice.

"We'll see what happens, we'll see what happens. It's looking very good. Right now it's looking very good. It will be interesting," Trump said.

Clinton has a slim lead in the polls but no one was ruling out a Trump victory. A polling average by tracker site RealClearPolitics gave Clinton a 3.3-percentage point national lead, but Trump is closer or even has the advantage in several of the swing states that he must conquer to pull off an upset.

Radically different visions

As a nervous world watched and waited, Americans chose between radically different visions of the future of the world's biggest power offered by Clinton and Trump.

The 69-year-old former first lady, senator and secretary of state - backed by incumbent President Barack Obama - on Monday urged the country to unite and vote for "a hopeful, inclusive, big-hearted America" in her last bid to woo voters.

Trump meanwhile pressed his message with voters who feel left behind by globalisation and social change, wrapping up with a flourish on his protectionist slogan of "America first".

Promising to end "years of betrayal," tear up free trade deals, seal the border, halt the drug trade and subject Syrian refugees to "extreme vetting", Trump told his supporters in New Hampshire: "I am with you and I will fight for you and we will win."

Trump has repeatedly warned that a "corrupt Washington and media elite" is seeking to rig the race and he said last month that he may not concede defeat if he thinks voting is unfair.

Clinton has pushed a more optimistic vision, despite a wobble in the final weeks of her campaign when the FBI reopened an investigation into whether she had put US secrets at risk by using a private email server - only to close the probe again on Sunday .

The email investigation allowed Trump to recover ground lost in a series of recent scandals .

Voters are also electing candidates for 34 seats in the 100-member Senate and the entire 435-member House of Representatives. Both the House and Senate are now controlled by the Republicans.

With a dominance in Congress, the Republicans frustrated outgoing President Obama by rejecting many of his key legislative agendas.

A Trump victory, along with a Republican Congress, could mean a swift end for Obama's Obamacare health reforms.

To win control of the Senate, Democrats would have to score a net gain of five seats. Republicans currently hold 54 Senate seats to 44 Democratic seats and two independents who align themselves with Democrats.

Courtesy; Al Jazeera News And Agencies

Hillary Clinton: The first Madam President?

Clinton's early activism was focused on civil rights, but her later career was defined by her hawkish foreign policy.

In 1961, a 14-year-old Hillary Rodham Clinton wrote a letter to NASA asking what she needed to do to become an astronaut.

According to Clinton, now the Democratic nominee for US presidency, the agency's response was effectively “thank you but we don't take girls”.

The organisation has since changed its policies and become more inclusive, sending dozens of women into space, but the number of female US presidents since the letter was purportedly sent remains the same: zero.

Clinton's journey to change that began on the opposite side of the US political divide, as a young conservative activist for the Republican Party.

By 1968, however, she had transformed.

The young Clinton broke with the party after the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King and labelled the Republican establishment racist.

Her early activism focused on pressuring her college to accept more African-American students and organising civil rights protests.

Later, Clinton studied law at Yale University, where she met her husband and future US President Bill Clinton.

The two were devoted Democrat activists and campaigned together for the party, eventually marrying in 1975.

Her first political positions came with the marriage; first as the First Lady of Arkansas when her husband was elected the governor of the state in 1978.

Later Clinton would serve as First Lady in the White House, when Bill was elected president in 1992.

Her first direct political appointment came with her election to the US senate in 2000.

In office, her foreign policy positions were barely distinguishable from the Republican President George W Bush; Clinton supported the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and advocated for strong support of Israel.

At home, Clinton supported the controversial Patriot Act and the bailout of Wall Street banks during the 2007 to 2008 financial crisis.

The latter period would also mark the start of her first campaign for the presidency, but after an initial lead, the attempt was cut short at the primary stage when current US President Barack Obama secured the Democratic nomination.

However, it would be Obama who gave Clinton her most senior political role; as secretary of state, a position in which she presided over the US response to the Arab uprisings that started in 2010.

During her tenure as the top US diplomat, Clinton oversaw western-led military action in Libya to topple the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the WikiLeaks exposes, and the operation that killed the leader of al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden.

Clinton was also in the position during the attack on the US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi, in which US ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed.

For years the incident became the primary attack point for her critics, who accused Clinton of failing to heed warnings and to do enough to protect those who died.

The Democratic nominee stood down as secretary of state in 2013 but the scandals were brought back out into the spotlight again after it was revealed that she had used private email servers for official correspondence.

The FBI cleared Clinton of wrongdoing, but her Republican rivals have used the scandal as evidence of her alleged incompetence.

Most recently, in October 2016, Clinton's campaign manager John Podesta's private emails were hacked and leaked, allegedly by members of the Russian intelligence.

The leaks raised questions about the payments received by the Clinton Foundation, which the Democrat leader runs with her husband, and the pair's ties to Wall Street banks.

Analysts say in any other campaign and against any other candidate, the leaks could have destroyed a candidacy, but Clinton is still favourited to become the next president.

Expecting opponents to forget about the numerous scandals is another issue entirely, and one that could prove to be a nuisance for a Clinton presidency, especially if the Republicans maintain control of the Congress.

Courtesy; Al Jazeera News

How will US election affect Middle East policy?

Incoming president will inherit Obama's legacy of "perpetual warfare" in the region, analysts note.

No matter who wins Tuesday's presidential election, one thing is clear: The United States will continue to meddle in the conflicts of the Middle East, analysts say.

Barack Obama, who shied away from large-scale military intervention in favour of more covert drone warfare, will end his eight years of presidency with a deeply controversial legacy, and at a time when the region faces myriad competing crises. Conflicts are raging in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya; major attacks have been staged in Tunisia, Turkey and Lebanon; and an uprising has been simmering among residents of the occupied West Bank, while Palestinians in Gaza have barely begun to recover from Israel's 2014 bombing campaign.

"Obama's legacy ... is one of near-total failure," Stephen Walt, an international affairs professor at Harvard's Kennedy School, told Al Jazeera.

"A two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians is further away than ever. Intervention in Libya and Yemen produced a failed state. Insisting that 'Assad must go' and backing other forms of intervention made the Syrian civil war worse," he said, noting that the only success story to emerge from Obama's two presidential terms was last year's historic Iran nuclear deal, which curbed Tehran's nuclear programme in return for a lifting of sanctions.

"I believe Clinton will follow a similar policy to Obama's, although she will try to look and sound tougher in doing it," Walt added. "The main risk she faces is a slippery slope, whereby limited intervention in Syria or elsewhere gradually expands. With Trump, we have no idea whatsoever what he will do, and neither does he."

As Americans head to the ballot box on Tuesday, pollsters are forecasting a tight race, as Donald Trump has increasingly closed the gap with Hillary Clinton over the past week. Clinton is still widely expected to win, with the analysis website FiveThirtyEight giving her a 70 percent chance of victory.

The next president will inherit Obama's legacy of "perpetual warfare" in the region, noted Samer Abboud, an associate professor of international studies at Arcadia University. Although Obama assumed office with a vision to reshape US engagement in the Middle East after the damaging Bush era - and while his administration has avoided sending troops into direct ground warfare, as his predecessor did in Iraq and Afghanistan - Washington has engaged in sustained aerial intervention throughout the region, including in Iraq and Syria.

"The idea that they're at war with Islamic militants around the region means that [Trump] will not be at all shy about the use of US military force in the region, and that's something we can unfortunately expect from both of these candidates."

Abdullah Al-Arian, assistant professor of history at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Qatar.

"Because this type of warfare is not as spectacular or widespread as military interventions, we have largely ignored the normalcy that this breeds and the exceptionalism it engenders," Abboud told Al Jazeera. "The US has basically gone around the world bombing and droning at will, all in the name of combating terrorism."

The failures of the US administration have been equally stark on the Israel/Palestine file, analysts note. Over the past eight years, Israel has launched three wars on the besieged Gaza Strip, while simultaneously accelerating its settlement programme throughout the occupied West Bank. Attempts by US Secretary of State John Kerry to jump-start the Israeli-Palestinian peace process have ended in abject failure.

"To cap it all, Obama signed a $38bn military aid package, the largest to any country in history, to unconditionally support Israeli occupation, colonisation and apartheid for the next decade," said Ali Abunimah, cofounder of The Electronic Intifada website and a policy adviser with Al-Shabaka. Both Clinton and Trump have indicated that they would continue the US tradition of unwavering support for Israel.

Although Tuesday's election is likely to lead to a recalibration of US policy towards the Middle East in several arenas, the size and scope of that transformation is difficult to predict, analysts say.

When it comes to Syria, now into the sixth year of a bloody conflict that shows no signs of abating, the two presidential candidates have presented directly opposing views. Trump has indicated that he would side with the Syrian regime and its Russian allies to battle the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), stating during last month's debate: "I don't like [Syrian President Bashar al-Assad] at all, but Assad is killing ISIS. Russia is killing ISIS and Iran is killing ISIS." In fact, many of the air strikes launched by the regime and its allies have actually targeted Syrian rebels, not ISIL.

Clinton, meanwhile, has called for a no-fly zone over Syria in order to gain "leverage" over the Russians.

"Hillary Clinton has clearly signalled that she intends to intervene in a variety of different conflicts, not least of which is Syria - but at the same time, Trump has given us a tremendous amount of rhetoric as far as the idea of being in this perpetual war against 'radical Islamic terrorism'," said Abdullah Al-Arian, an assistant professor of history at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Qatar.

"The idea that they're at war with Islamic militants around the region means that he will not be at all shy about the use of US military force in the region, and that's something we can unfortunately expect from both of these candidates," Al-Arian told Al Jazeera, noting that the US legacy of supporting its regional interests at the expense of indigenous populations throughout the Middle East is certain to continue, regardless of who wins on Tuesday.

Kenneth Pollack, a senior fellow with the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, noted that Clinton would likely aim to seek out a "middle ground" between Obama's purported disengagement and Bush's militarised intervention in the region - a doomed strategy, he suggested.

"The problems of the Middle East have gotten so bad that middle options, or limited options, aren't going to work," Pollack told Al Jazeera. "They're going to make the situation worse."

Should Trump ultimately prevail in Tuesday's election, all bets are off in terms of how the Middle East file would move forward, analysts say.
"It is very difficult to tell what to expect [if Trump wins]," Abboud said. "He has suggested everything from war crimes to completely disengaging from the region. I seriously doubt that a Trump administration would find it politically or strategically feasible to enhance military intervention in the region."

Despite growing fatigue among the American public over their country's role in the Middle East, the region remains strategically important and will likely remain a dominating force on the US foreign policy agenda in the years ahead, said Steven Heydemann, the Ketcham chair in Middle East Studies at Smith College.

"[Obama] sought to downplay US interests in the Middle East and to downplay the extent to which the US could shape outcomes in the Middle East, and tended to view the Middle East as a distraction that prevented America from focusing more energy on areas of the world that were more central to its interests, in particular Asia," Heydemann told Al Jazeera.

"I have a feeling that the next president will look at the Middle East differently ... and will probably move quickly to re-engage in a number of different arenas."

Courtesy; Al Jazeera

Donald Trump's Mission: Impossible

A real estate mogul, businessman, pageant owner, reality TV star, and a voice of protest against the establishment.

The Donald Trump you first came across depends largely on the decade in which you spent your formative years.

If you were raised in the Seventies, it will be the fledgling New York property developer working on renovating some of the city’s most iconic buildings with what he would later describe as a "small loan of a million dollars" from his father.

In the Eighties, the now-accomplished businessman became widely known for his New York Times bestseller, The Art of the Deal, in which he detailed the path to his riches.

The Nineties made Trump a fixture of popular culture as the owner of the Miss Universe beauty pageant and a cameo actor in some of the decade’s most popular TV shows and movies including Home Alone 2, Sex and the City, and the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

By the turn of the millennium, Trump reached global stardom with the TV show, The Apprentice. His signature phrase, "You’re fired", aimed at losing contestants on the show, took on a life of its own as one of the staple catchphrases of the reality TV era.

The jump between business and politics has never been grand, and Trump flirted with the idea of several political candidacies from the Eighties onwards.

For two decades from 1988, the property mogul drifted between the Democrats and the Republicans but finally settled on the latter after the election of current US President Barack Obama, towards whom he quickly established a vicious enmity.

Trump helped promulgate conspiracy theories that the US leader had lied about being born in the US, therefore invalidating his right to the presidency.

Despite ready accessibility to evidence that Obama was born in the US, Trump only accepted this during the later stages of his current run for presidency in 2016.

The Republican presidential nominee’s current run at the presidency marks an ascent that has defied expectation from political analysts, the media, and rivals in both major US parties alike.

Trump has survived not only the fallout from his populist rhetorical outbursts during the campaign but also revelations dating back decades involving racism, sexual harassment, tax avoidance, among other accusations.

A pledge to ban Muslims entering the US, calling immigrants from Mexico rapists, attacking the family of US soldier killed in Iraq, mocking a disabled New York Times reporter, leaks detailing boasts of unsolicited sexual advances in graphic detail, Trump has survived the fallout of all plus more.

While most polls give his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton a slight edge, Trump has the backing of large swaths of the country, for whom he - the self-proclaimed outsider - is a voice of protest against the establishment.

If they turn out in enough numbers on Tuesday, especially in key swing states, they might bring about the biggest political shock in modern US history.

Courtesy;  Al Jazeera News

2016 US Election Results

Click Here to view the 2016 US Election Results

Courtesy; CNN

US election 2016: polls open as Trump and Clinton aim to make history

Polls opened in Florida, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and part of Tennessee 30 mins ago.

Seventeen states in total now open and voting.




Courtesy; The Guardian

What time will we see the US election results in the UK and what is the timetable for the night?

The 2016 US election takes place today, after which the world's most powerful nation will have a new leader. Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will become the 45th President of the United States. But what is happening when, and how long do you need to stay up if you're in the UK?

What happens on election day itself?
Polling booths will open in all 50 states and in Washington DC across six time zones.

Timings vary for each state - voting generally begins at 11am and noon GMT on November 8 (6am and 7am ET) and closes between midnight and 1.00am GMT on November 9 (7pm and 8pm ET). In Iowa and North Dakota polls are open till 9pm ET.

Timeline | US election day and night

00:01 ET (05:01 GMT, Tuesday 8th)
The first results are announced - possibly in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire

06:00 ET (11:00 GMT)
Polling stations open in east coast states and election day proper underway

18:00 ET (23:00 GMT)
The first polls close in Indiana and Kentucky, two traditionally Republican states

19:00 ET (00:00 GMT, Wednesday 9th)
Polling stations start to close in the battleground states of battleground states of Florida and Virginia, as well as Georgia, South Carolina and Vermont. The first state projections will be made based on exit polls

19:30 ET (00:30 GMT)
Polls close in the traditionally Republican West Virginia, as well as two other swing states: Ohio and North Carolina

20:00 ET (01:00 GMT)
Polls close in a host of states. Two of them, Pennsylvania and Michigan, are big target states. Other states where polls close are: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, District Of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Texas

21:00 ET (02:00 GMT)
Another flurry of activity when polls close in Colorado, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Wyoming. Colorado and Wisconsin are both swing states.

22:00 ET (03:00 GMT)
Poll closes in two swing states, Iowa and Nevada, plus Arizona, Montana and Utah. Utah could be interesting because Mormon and ex-CIA operative Evan McMullin has polled well.

23:00 ET (04:00 GMT)
Earliest possible time the election will be “called” for either candidate by US TV networks. It's also the time the polls close in California, a Democrat state with the most electoral college votes of any state (55), as well as Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

Will there be exit polls?
As soon as polls close, there will be a projection for that state based on opinion polls carried out throughout the day. These should give a good indication of who has won that state, although as we have seen in recent UK elections, they are not to be relied upon.

We will get our first projections from east coast states. There may be a dozen states where it's too close to call based on exit polls, and in those states the TV networks will make no projection and we will have to wait for the actual results.

When was the election declared in 2012?
This was when each state was "called" by the Associated Press in 2012, based on projected results - note that Florida was too close to call:

Nov. 6, 2012

19:05: WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama wins Vermont; Romney wins Kentucky.

19:30: WASHINGTON (AP) — Romney wins West Virginia.

19:55: WASHINGTON (AP) — Romney wins South Carolina.

19:56: WASHINGTON (AP) — Romney wins Indiana.

20:01: WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama wins IL, CT, ME, DC, DE, RI, MD, MA; Romney wins OK.

20:21: WASHINGTON (AP) — Romney wins Tennessee.

20:28: WASHINGTON (AP) — Romney wins Georgia.

20:46: WASHINGTON (AP) — Romney wins Alabama.

21:02: WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama wins NY; Romney wins NE, WY, KS, LA, SD, TX, ND, MI.

21:06: WASHINGTON (AP) — CORRECTS: Obama wins NY, MI; Romney wins NE, WY, KS, LA, SD, TX, ND. (Corrects APNewsAlert )

21:10: WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama wins New Jersey; Romney wins Arkansas.

21:13: WASHINGTON (AP) — Romney wins Mississippi.

21:48: WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama wins Pennsylvania.

22:00: WASHINGTON (AP) — Romney wins Utah.

22:04: WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama wins New Hampshire.

22:28: WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama wins all 4 electoral votes in Maine.

22:36: WASHINGTON (AP) — Romney wins Arizona.

22:44: WASHINGTON (AP) — Romney wins all 5 electoral votes in Nebraska.

22:53: WASHINGTON (AP) — Romney wins North Carolina.

22:57: WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama wins Minnesota.

23:00: WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama wins CA, WA, HI; Romney wins ID.

23:09: WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama wins New Mexico; Romney wins Missouri.

23:17: WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama wins Ohio.

23:19: WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama wins Iowa.

23:29: WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama wins Oregon.

23:38: WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama re-elected president. [Call based on AP’s determination that Obama had won Colorado, thereby exceeding the necessary 270 electoral votes. Separately, AP's Colorado wire reported at 23:39 that Obama had won the state. ]
23:43: WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats retain control of the Senate.

23:46: WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama wins Colorado.

23:47: WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama wins Wisconsin.

23:54: WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama wins Nevada.

Nov. 7, 2012

00:37: WASHINGTON (AP) — Obama wins Virginia.

00:42: WASHINGTON (AP) — Romney wins Montana.

00:49: CHICAGO (AP) — Obama aide: Romney concedes to Obama in a phone call.

00:58: BOSTON (AP) — Romney: 'I pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation'

1:30: WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans win control of House for 2 more years, assuring more clashes with Obama.

1:43: CHICAGO (AP) — Victorious Obama: 'We have picked ourselves up,' fought our way back, 'best is yet to come'

1:57: WASHINGTON (AP) — Romney wins Alaska.

Where will the proper first results be announced?
Dixville Notch, New Hampshire is the Sunderland of America. The village, just 20 miles from the Canadian border, is known for being one of the first places to declare its results - often up to 24 hours before the rest of the country.

The village has a longstanding tradition of middle-of-the-night voting, whereby all the eligible voters in Dixville Notch gather at midnight in the ballroom of a ski resort, hours before most polling stations officially open.

When all registered voters have voted, sometimes one minute later, the result is announced.

Dixville Notch competes with several other towns and villages in New Hampshire for the honour of first to declare, including Hart's Location.

For the first time, real-time projections of how the candidates are faring in each state throughout the day will be provided. Slate and Vice News have partnered with Votecastr, a company ran by Obama and Bush campaign veterans, and expect to begin posting projections at 8am.

This marks a dramatic departure from current practice, where representatives from a consortium of news organisations (The Associated Press, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News and NBC News) huddle in a quarantine room without phones, poring over the earliest exit poll data but declining to release anything that points to an election result until all the polls in that state have closed.

How late do I need to stay up?
Stock up on coffee because it will be a late night.

The first polls will begin to close about 11pm GMT (6pm ET), but things will get a lot more interesting about 1am GMT (8pm ET) when they close in key battlegrounds like Pennsylvania. If Clinton doesn't take this state, it will be a massive blow to her campaign.

Polls begin to close in western states from about 3am GMT (10pm ET) onwards. Usually by around 4am GMT on November 9 (11pm ET November 8) on the East Coast it has become clear that one side has prevailed, although the result could come sooner than that.

In 2012 the Associated Press called the result for Barack Obama at 4.38am.

The magic number is 270 electoral college votes - each state, plus Washington DC, is awarded a certain number of electoral votes based roughly on size.

When the winner is beyond doubt, the losing candidate calls the winner to concede. Both Mrs Clinton and Mr Trump will give a speech: one to claim victory and the other admit defeat. But there is always the possibility - as happened in 2000 - that at the end of Election Day we may still not know who has won.

The result could either be too close to call without counting every vote or else legal battles over election procedures may delay the result or force a recount. It could even be a tie, with both candidates stuck at 269, in which case the House of Representatives would vote choose the next president.

How can I follow the action live from the UK?
At telegraph.co.uk, of course! We will keep you updated with our rolling live blog, results and analysis. We'll also have a live stream of all the action from 11pm GMT.

BBC News is broadcasting all the action live from Times Square between 11:15pm GMT and 6am GMT, presented by Andrew Neil and Katty Kay.

ITV will also be broadcasting live from 10:40pm, with Tom Bradby presenting a special programme live from Washington, DC while Sky News will have live results coverage from 10pm.

Why is the election on Tuesday November 8?
The election is in November because America was a predominantly agrarian society and November was the quietest for rural workers.

It is always traditionally on a Tuesday to allow people living in rural areas time to travel to towns and cities to vote, removing the need to travel on a Sunday.

It is always the first Tuesday after the first Monday to avoid the election falling on November 1st. This was to avoid clashing with All Saints Day and the day when businessmen traditionally did their accounting from the previous month.

What are the new voting laws?
Voting rules vary widely by state and sometimes by county, meaning some Americans can register the same day they vote, while others must do so weeks in advance.

Some can mail in a ballot, while others must stand in line at a polling place that might be miles from home. Some who forget photo identification can simply sign an affidavit and have their ballot count, while others must return with their ID within a few days or their vote doesn't matter.

Fourteen states have new voting and registration rules in place for this election, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law. Legal challenges have led to a multitude of recent court rulings that have blocked or struck down some provisions and upheld or reinstated others, scrambling the picture further.

Head to head | Hillary Clinton vs Donald Trump

Hillary Clinton
Secretary of State 2009–2013
Senator for New York 2001–2009; First Lady 1993–2001

Age: 69

Party: Democratic

Education:Wellesley College and then Yale Law School

Campaign slogan: Stronger Together

Strengths: Huge amounts of experience in government. Has the chance to make history as first US female president

Weaknesses: Faces accusations she is untrustworthy and out of touch. Pneumonia diagnosis has brought questions about her health to the forefront.

Secret service name: “Evergreen”

Quote: “Americans have fought their way back from tough economic times, but the deck is still stacked in favour of those at the top”


Donald Trump
Chairman & President, Trump Association
2016 Trump’s first official foray into politics

Age: 70

Party: Republican

Education: University of Pennsylvania

Campaign slogan: Make America Great Again

Strengths: Name recognition, deep pockets, and a no-holds-barred style which has excited the grassroots who believe he's a “fighter”

Weaknesses: His brash statements have caused controversy and accusations of incitement to violence from his supporters against protesters

Secret service name: “Mogul”

Quote: “I’m the most successful person to ever run for the presidency, by far”

Courtesy; The Telegraph

US election: America votes for president after divisive campaign

Americans are heading to the polls to choose a new president after one of the most rancorous election campaigns the country has seen.

Voting gets under way in earnest on the East Coast from 06:00 EST (11:00 GMT), though some villages in New Hampshire have already polled.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump criss-crossed America in a hectic last-minute campaign push for votes.

Results should begin emerging late on Tuesday night, US time, from 04:00 GMT.

Both candidates have held rallies in the battleground states of North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Mrs Clinton urged voters to back a "hopeful, inclusive, big-hearted America" while Mr Trump told supporters they had a "magnificent chance to beat the corrupt system".

Polls give Democrat Mrs Clinton a four-point lead over Republican Mr Trump.

A record number of Americans - more than 46 million - have voted early by post or at polling stations.

There are signs of a high turnout among Hispanic voters, which is believed to favour Mrs Clinton.

The rivals held the final rallies of their campaigns after midnight - Mr Trump in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Mrs Clinton in Raleigh, North Carolina.

"Today the American working class is going to strike back, finally," said Mr Trump, pledging to reverse job losses.

Earlier, in New Hampshire, he told supporters: "We are just one day away from the change you've been waiting for all your life.

"Together we will make America wealthy again, we will make America strong again, we will make America safe again and we will make America great again."

Mrs Clinton told her audience that they did not "have to accept a dark and divisive vision of America".

She looked forward to "a fairer, stronger, better America. An America where we build bridges, not walls. And where we prove conclusively that love trumps hate".

Election day follows a bitter campaign during which the candidates have traded insults and become mired in a series of scandals.

At a star-studded event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mrs Clinton was joined on stage by celebrities Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi as well as her husband Bill, President Obama and his wife Michelle.

Earlier Mrs Clinton said in a radio interview that if she won she would call Mr Trump and hoped he would play a "constructive role" in helping to bring the country together.

At his rally in Scranton in the same state, Mr Trump insisted the momentum was with his campaign.

The businessman described Mrs Clinton as the "most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency", referring to an FBI investigation into Mrs Clinton's use of a private email server while she was serving as secretary of state between 2009 and 2013.

On Sunday Mrs Clinton's campaign received a boost when the FBI said newly discovered emails sent by an aide showed no evidence of criminality.

Election day voting began just after midnight in the small New Hampshire village of Dixville Notch, where seven votes were cast - four for Mrs Clinton, two for Mr Trump and one for the libertarian Gary Johnson.

Results are expected some time after 23:00 EST (04:00 GMT on Wednesday) once voting ends on the West Coast. State projections will not be available until polling ends - in most states between 19:00 EST (24:00 GMT) and 20:00 EST (01:00 GMT).

Americans are also voting for Congress. All of the House of Representatives - currently Republican controlled - is up for grabs, and a third of seats in the Senate, which is also in Republican hands.

Meanwhile Mr Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway sought to allay international anxiety about the Republican candidate in a BBC interview on Monday.

She said criticism from abroad "does not reflect why Donald Trump is running and who he would be on the global stage".

French President Francois Hollande has said the billionaire made him "want to retch".

It follows a series of sex assault allegations made against Mr Trump, which he denies, and the emergence of a recording of him making obscene remarks about women.

Mr Trump has also been accused of stoking xenophobic sentiment after vowing to ban Muslims from entering the US, describing Mexicans as "rapists" and saying he would build a wall along the US southern border to stop illegal immigration.

Courtesy; BBC NEWS