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Eleven Republican senators refuse to certify Biden’s victory

 

Eleven elected Republican members of the US Senate announced on Saturday, January 2, that they would oppose the certification by Congress of the result of the presidential election, a final attempt to challenge the victory of Joe Biden, as Donald Trump wishes.

So far, only one senator, Josh Hawley, had announced Wednesday his intention to challenge the Democrat’s election at the certification ceremony scheduled for January 6. This last-ditch attempt follows repeated failures by supporters of Donald Trump in court to overturn poll results in several key states where Joe Biden has won.

“Congress should immediately appoint an electoral commission, with full authority to investigate” possible “electoral fraud,” the eleven elected members of the Upper House said in a statement, echoing repeated accusations of fraud by the president Trump and by many Republican parliamentarians for the past two months.

Fraud notification

“The allegations of fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election exceed any that we have known in our lives,” said the eleven senators. The commission they want to be created will have to “conduct a ten-day emergency audit of the results in the states” where the two candidates were neck and neck, asked these elected officials, led by influential Texas Senator Ted Cruz .

If this audit does not take place, “we will vote on January 6 to reject voters from disputed states,” they announced. Also according to the press release from the senators, the states concerned could then convene extraordinary legislative sessions and potentially revise their electoral results.

Certification, a formality

In the United States, the president is chosen by indirect universal suffrage. The electoral college declared, on December 14, the victory of Joe Biden with 306 voters against 232 for Donald Trump, while it takes 270 voters to become president.

The leader of the Republican majority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, then recognized the victory of Joe Biden, and he called on the Republicans to certify this result. The House and Senate are due to meet on Wednesday to certify these results, a procedure that is usually a mere formality. But the outgoing president still claims to have won the Nov. 3 election by a large margin, and he called on his supporters to rally in Washington on Wednesday.

Not enough voices

Donald Trump posted on Twitter on Saturday the list of eleven senators who joined Josh Hawley, senator from Missouri, in praising their initiative and repeating that he was the victim of fraud by Democrats during the presidential election. “An attempt to steal a landslide victory. We can’t let that happen! He wrote.

The real estate mogul is counting on the debate in Congress to expose the public to the material he believes is the basis for his fraud charges. “And after people see the facts, there’s still plenty to come…” he tweeted.

In the Democratic-majority House of Representatives, more than a hundred Republican elected officials plan to vote against certification, according to CNN. However, in the House as in the Senate, there will not be enough votes for the process to succeed.

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