Donald Trump racked up the 270 electoral votes needed to become US President.
As of now, Trump has 304 of the 306 pledged electoral votes, as two faithless electors defected and cast their ballots for former Representative Ron Paul and Ohio Gov John Kasich.
Of 232 electors pledged to vote for Hillary Clinton, 227 voted for her, The New York Times reports.
On the Clinton side, one elector in Hawaii voted for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders instead. In Washington, three electors voted for former Secretary of State Colin Powell and one voted for Native American elder Faith Spotted Eagle.
Others tried not to vote for Clinton, too. One elector in Minnesota tried to vote for Sanders, but was replaced with another who voted for her. An elector in Maine tried to vote for Sanders, too, but switched his vote to Clinton after a second round of voting. In Colorado, an elector voted for Kasich before being replaced with an elector who did vote for Clinton, the Business Insider reports.
It is rare for more than one elector to vote against the party’s pledged candidate. In 1808, six New York electors from the Democratic-Republican Party refused to vote for James Madison and instead voted for the party’s vice-presidential candidate, George Clinton.
"Today marks a historic electoral landslide victory in our nation's democracy. I thank the American people for their overwhelming vote to elect me as their next President of the United States. I will work hard to unite our country and be the President of all Americans,” he said. “Together, we will make America great again,” Trump said in a statement.
The US will submit a "certificate of vote" to the Federal Register by December 28. On January 6, Congress will formally tally the Electoral College's votes in a joint session and make it official.
The director of the Roosevelt Fund of Study of the US at Moscow State University, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Yuri Rogulyov, speaking with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that most of the record number of “faithless electors” ditched Clinton. "While all eyes were on Donald Trump, five electors voted against Hillary Clinton, that is, she has lost more votes. This indicates that the split in society is very deep, and both parties - the Republican and the Democratic Party of the United States - are in a serious crisis," he stressed.
Speaking of what we can expect from the president-elect Donald Trump now, the expert noted that his behavior is likely to change over the current moment. "Trump will face the need to regulate the issue of regulation of his election promises with other political forces, compromises, contradictions and conflicts of interest are inevitable. With regard to international policy, not everything here depends on the United States, the actions of other countries will influence it. In addition, there is a system of separation of powers in the US. The Congress is not dependent on President, and it will try to correct Trump's certain steps," the director of the Roosevelt Fund of Study of the US at Moscow State University warned.
The deputy dean of the Faculty of Global Economics and International Affairs of the Higher School of Economics of the National Research University, Andrei Suzdaltsev, also noted that a record number of electors who have broken their promises shows a heavy domestic political situation in the United States.
The expert pointed out that the Democratic camp did not admit its defeat, despite official statements. It suggests that there is a very serious political struggle in the US, which, of course, affects the stability of the electoral college.
In addition, the analyst noted that, judging by Trump's actions, he will try to implement his campaign promises. "Oddly enough, Trump is forming his administration, and while all his actions show that he will attempt to implement his promises. It is a different matter, how he will do it, but in any case, nothing is forgotten," the deputy dean of the Faculty of Global Economics and International Affairs of the Higher School of Economics of the National Research University said.
Accordingly, he said that the behavior of the elected president is unlikely to change after the inauguration. "He will try to get away from the unproductive rhetoric and do something," Andrei Suzdaltsev concluded.
