Biden declared president-elect as challenges loom

After four days of nail-biting suspense following Election Day on Nov 3, former US vice-president Joe Biden was declared president-elect Saturday morning, whose immediate challenges would be to lead and rid the country of a sweeping COVID-19 pandemic and the grip of a confluence of economic and social turbulence.

Biden's triumph made Republican President Donald Trump the first US president since 1992 to fail to win a second term, and his running mate Kamala Harris will become the first American woman to serve as vice-president, as well as its first Black and South Asian-American to shatter a significant glass ceiling.

Biden was declared to have defeated Trump Saturday morning, when major US media outlets, including The Associated Press, CNN, CBS and FOX News, called the key battleground state of Pennsylvania for the 77-year-old.

By Saturday evening, Biden had taken at least 273 electoral votes against Trump, according to some media projections. Other forecasts have a higher number of electoral votes for Biden, far above the 270 that is needed to win the White House.

"With the campaign over, it's time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation," Biden said in a statement. "It's time for America to unite. And to heal."