Both houses of the US Congress have certified the results of the 2020 presidential election. The process which is normally only a formality, started on January 6, 2021, but was only concluded in the early hours of the following day. It was disrupted when lawmakers were forced to evacuate the US Capitol after it was stormed by thousands of radical supporters of sitting President Donald Trump. Trump called in the National Guard to quell the violence and secure the Capitol, but he continued to make unsubstantiated claims that the election was riddled with fraud and that it was stolen from him. Trump supporters also rallied in other parts of the US, while Trump critics staged their own protests. The sessions of the US House of Representatives and the Senate resumed after the Capitol was cleared, and hours later lawmakers confirmed Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States. Biden and vice-president-elect Kamala Harris will be inaugurated on January 20.
(Photo: Pool via Reuters)
