Biden speaks of victory as poll picture clears up

Democratic White House candidate Joe Biden on Friday said he was on course to a "clear and convincing victory" on the fourth night of the vote count of the United States presidential elections, reported EFE-EPA.

He said he had already begun to work on plans for his presidency.

"While we are waiting for the final results, I want people to know we are not waiting to get to work," the former vice president said in a brief speech from Wilmington, Delaware, talking of "a clear mandate" for action.

Biden emphasized that he was leading in the closely fought states of Arizona and Nevada and had come up from behind in Pennsylvania and Georgia.

"And look at the national numbers. We are going to win this race with a clear majority of the nation behind us," he proclaimed with his running mate Senator Kamala Harris on his side.

The Democrat said the two of them had received a report over the situation of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country and were already preparing to deal with it after assuming power, once their victory is confirmed officially.

In sharp contrast to President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly made unfounded allegations of election fraud, Biden struck a conciliatory note and said that the "purpose of politics" was not "unrelenting warfare" or "fanning the flames of politics" but to solve problems.

"We may be opponents but we are not enemies. We are Americans. No matter who you voted for, I’m certain of one thing: The vast majority of the 150 million Americans (who voted), they want to get the vitriol out of our politics."

He promised that the authorities would count all the votes and the people would be heard.

The Trump campaign has mounted legal challenges to block counting or declare some votes declared invalid.

However, Biden appealed for unity and said that it was the time to come together as a nation and heal.

Although the event had been scheduled hours in advance by the Democratic camp for a possible first speech by Biden as the president-elect, he stopped short of making an outright declaration of victory as the vote count in the four key states has progressed very slowly.

The US elections require the winning candidate to have the support of 270 delegates in the Electoral College, which consists of 538 seats split among the states in proportion to their population.

Biden has accumulated between 253-264 delegates so far, depending on whether one includes Arizona in his camp, as some media houses have still not projected his victory there.

Trump has the support of 214 delegates.

Biden is leading Trump by 49.6-49.1 percent of the votes in the key state of Pennsylvania - which sends 20 delegates to the College – having wiped out a Republican lead of 750,000 since Tuesday night thanks to a massive lead in postal votes.

Out of the remaining states, the Democrat is leading in Georgia (16 delegates), Nevada (6), and Arizona (11). Trump is ahead in North Carolina (15) and Alaska (3).