Washington, Mar. 13, (dpa/GNA) – US President Joe Biden on Tuesday achieved the required number of delegates to be nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate, according to a count by US broadcasters CNN and NBC following his victory in the Georgia primary.
Biden exceeded the required 1,968 delegate votes to secure the Democratic ticket.
As Biden had no serious competition in his party, it was already considered certain that the 81-year-old would be the Democratic candidate. He will be officially nominated at a party conference in August.
The November 5 presidential election will now almost certainly be a rematch of the 2020 contest, in which Biden defeated his predecessor Donald Trump.
Trump’s last rival in the Republican primary race, former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, withdrew from the Republican primary race last week. Trump however does not have the necessary delegate votes mathematically secured yet.
Given the lack of competition and Trump’s run of victories in the primaries, there is little doubt that he will achieve the necessary votes and be chosen as the Republican Party’s candidate.
To become a presidential candidate in the United States nominees must first prevail in internal party votes in the various states. The Democrats will officially select their candidate in Chicago in the summer.
As a rule, the delegates must abide by the voting results in the primaries and cannot simply vote for another candidate.
The so-called superdelegates – Democratic party officials who are allowed to vote in the selection of the candidate and are not bound to anyone – are unlikely to play a role this year. They can only vote if voting goes to a second round, which is regarded as extremely unlikely.
GNA