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Senatorials in Georgia: home stretch of a thrilling campaign

 

The denouement is near. The polling stations closed Tuesday, January 5 in Georgia in the greatest suspense around a double election which will determine the control of the Senate and the room for action of the future President Joe Biden, decided to mark the break with Donald Trump. “Everything is being played today,” the Democrat tweeted. His party’s two Senate candidates, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, hope to surprise and bring the upper house under Democratic control.

“This election is going to be very close”, warned in the afternoon the two outgoing Republican senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. If they manage to keep just one of their seats, Republicans will retain their majority in the Senate. After a thrilling campaign, polling stations closed at 7 p.m. The final results may not be known in the evening.

More than three million voters, a record number for a partial senatorial in Georgia, were able to vote in advance, or some 40% of those registered in Georgia. The time of the results will depend “on how tight the margin is” and the number of advance ballots still arriving on Wednesday, “but that will probably be tomorrow morning,” said Republican head of elections in Georgia, Brad Raffensperger. , on Fox News. A total of $ 832 million was spent on the campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, an independent body.

The “most important” election

In downtown Atlanta, a Democratic stronghold, voters trickled into a Lutheran church turned into a polling station. “I think it’s the most important election of my life,” said Robert Lowe, a 74-year-old retiree who voted for the two Democrats. “If they don’t both win and the Republicans keep the Senate, nothing will change,” said this former stand-up professional.

In Dalton, a conservative stronghold in northwest Georgia, Rony Haikal also considers this election “really important”. But he voted for Republican senators. “We can literally change the future of this country,” he says.

“Save America”

Sign of the big stakes, the elected and outgoing presidents had made Monday the trip on the ground to give voice. These by-elections could be “your last chance to save America as we love it”, thundered Dalton Donald Trump, who still refuses to admit defeat, more than two months after the election. His Democratic predecessor Barack Obama on Tuesday evening encouraged voters to stand in line to vote. “Let’s transform the essay,” he tweeted.

The two Republican senators, however, are favorites in this conservative state. If he did not win the first round, David Perdue had come close to 50% against Jon Ossoff. Could Kelly Loeffler benefit from a significant postponement of votes from a Republican rival, who had divided the support in the first round against Raphael Warnock, who came in first. But the Democrats hope to win, galvanized by Joe Biden’s narrow victory in the state on November 3, a first since 1992. They especially hope for a large mobilization of black voters. Moderate Republicans may also be discouraged from voting by the repeated accusations of fraud launched by Donald Trump.

Trump in front of his supporters

In the aftermath of these by-elections, Congress will meet to formally record the vote of the electors in favor of Joe Biden (306 against 232). The outcome of this constitutional obligation is clear: Joe Biden will become the 46th President of the United States on January 20. But Donald Trump’s crusade gives this day a special tone. If some Republican heavyweights have ended up admitting the victory of the Democrat, the outgoing president is counting on the unwavering support of dozens of parliamentarians. These elected officials promised to express their objections Wednesday, and to resonate the allegations of fraud within the Capitol itself.

Donald Trump again put pressure on his vice-president, Mike Pence, on Tuesday, who will have the ceremonial role of declaring Joe Biden the winner. “The vice president has the power to reject fraudulently chosen voters,” the president tweeted, mistakenly. In the street, a large demonstration of support for Donald Trump is planned in Washington. Holding flags on behalf of the billionaire, hundreds of supporters were already gathering in the capital on Monday. The outgoing president confirmed that he would speak to them on Wednesday at 11 a.m. (4 p.m. GMT) from the Ellipse, an esplanade located south of the White House. Joe Biden has largely refrained from commenting on this unprecedented pressure around a day that is usually a formality. Wednesday he planned to give a speech … on the economy.

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