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US President Donald Trump has tweeted that president-elect Joe Biden "won" the 2020 presidential election only because "the election was rigged" — reiterating false claims of widespread voting fraud.
Key points:
- Donald Trump has refused to concede he legitimately lost the US election
- Mr Trump has repeatedly voiced false claims about a "rigged" election process
- His refusal to concede has denied President-elect Joe Biden from starting a formal transition process
Mr Biden defeated the incumbent President with the help of victories in a series of battleground states Mr Trump won in 2016.
The Democratic former vice-president also won the national popular vote by more than 5.5 million votes, or 3.6 percentage points.
In a series of tweets, Mr Trump repeatedly alleged, without evidence, the 2020 US election was "rigged".
"All of the mechanical 'glitches' that took place on Election Night were really THEM getting caught trying to steal votes," Mr Trump wrote.
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Election officials of both parties have said there is no evidence of major irregularities.
But in recent days, Mr Trump's campaign has filed lawsuits seeking to overturn the results in multiple states, though without success, and legal experts say the litigation stands little chance of altering the outcome of the election.
Before the election, Mr Trump had refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power.
Democrats and other critics have accused Mr Trump of trying to delegitimise Mr Biden's victory and undermine public confidence in the US electoral process.
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Trump Administration still stymying transition
Mr Trump's refusal to concede will not prevent Mr Biden becoming president in January, but it has stalled the US's longstanding process of presidential transition.
The Trump Administration's decision not to recognise Mr Biden as the winner has prevented his team from gaining access to government office space and to funding normally afforded to an incoming administration to ensure a smooth transition.
The federal agency in charge of providing those resources, the General Services Administration, has yet to recognise Mr Biden's victory.
The incoming president has spent days huddled with advisers while weighing Cabinet appointments, fielding congratulatory calls from world leaders and mapping out the policies he will pursue after being sworn in on January 20.
He is expected to continue meeting with advisers in private on Sunday.
Reuters
