After months of a brutal campaign, Donald Trump has achieved the unthinkable, and won the US Presidential election.
In January next year, the President-elect will be officially sworn into one of the highest offices on the globe.
It’s no secret, the world didn’t see this coming.
We may have toyed with the idea, but few commentators, political analysts and experts actually believed a first time politician would occupy the White House.
In fact, the polls got it terribly wrong.
Trump was first to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to win the race.
While Clinton won the popular vote, by at least 200 000 ballots.
Trump obtained 59,692,974 votes (47.5%), while Clinton came in at 59,923,027 votes (47.7%).
While it seems bizarre that the person who got the most votes, lost the race, that is the nature of the US electoral system.
To put it simply, at the time that the US electoral system was developed, the founding fathers did not believe enough in the American public to make the right political decisions.
Instead of directly voting for presidential candidates, the people would elect members of the Electoral College to represent them and their votes at the ballot.
These are the votes that count for the presidency.
Therefore, while Trump obtained less votes – from the actual masses – he can still win, from Electoral College votes.
Soon after the result came in, Trump made an attempt at a unifying speech, saying he would be the President “for all Americans”.
Saying he had just received a call from Hilary Clinton, Trump congratulated her on running a tough election campaign.
He also acknowledged Clinton’s years of service in her various roles in government.
“Hillary has worked long and hard and we owe a major debt of gratitude to her for her work for this country,” said Trump.
In her concession speech, Clinton expressed her disappointment but offered to “work with him (Trump) on behalf of our country”.
“I hope that he will be a successful President for all Americans,” she said.
This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for, and I am sorry that we did not win this election for the values we share and the vision we hold for our country.
But I feel pride and gratitude for this wonderful campaign that we built together, this vast, diverse, creative, unruly, energised campaign. You represent the best of America, and being your candidate has been one of the greatest honors of my life.
I know how disappointed you feel, because I feel it, too. And so do tens of millions of Americans who invested their hopes and dreams in this effort. This is painful, and it will be for a long time.
But I want you to remember this: Our campaign was never about one person or even one election. It was about the country we love and about building an America that’s hopeful, inclusive and big-hearted.
Meanwhile, delivering a statement on the 2016 elections, President Obama did his best to unite the US, amid several protests against Trump, in various parts of America, including right outside the White House:
“We have to remember that we’re actually all on one team…We’re not Democrats first, we’re not Republicans first, we are Americans first. We’re patriots first. We all want what’s best for this country,” said Obama.
You can view his full address here.
The world will no doubt be watching Mr Trumps every move and whether he can deliver on his promises – especially whether or not there will be a wall, which the Mexicans are allegedly going to pay for.