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On the 9th, US President Donald Trump questioned the legitimacy of the results of the midterm elections, in which the ruling Republican Party suffered a landslide defeat. A few days ago, he said he would accept the results.
"Does anyone really believe that this 'election' was fair? Is it possible that the polls could be this wrong?" Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
He also made vague claims about ``throwing in'' votes and ``machines.'' He provided no evidence of what that referred to or whether he believed there was any error or fraud.
Before the election, Trump claimed widespread voter fraud. However, evidence suggests that this is rare.
Trump told the New York Times on election night that he would "of course" accept the result. This statement seems to contradict this.
In the midterm elections held on the 3rd, the opposition Democratic Party regained a majority in both houses of Congress. State and local officials said the vote was largely uneventful.
Several important races, including the Senate races in Alaska and Mississippi, have yet to be announced as guaranteed wins.
Charles Stewart III, a political scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), said the vote counting process went smoothly on election night. "The times at which vote counts were reported were in line with typical patterns across the country."
In addition, some states, such as Florida and Georgia, pre-compile early and mail-in voting results, which will speed up initial reporting.
Trump has questioned the fairness of past elections he lost. He was not a candidate in the midterm elections.
"If my name was on the ballot, it would have been an easy victory," Trump told CBS News after it became clear that his Republican Party had lost both houses of Congress.
Pre-election polls by public opinion polling organizations and the media indicated that the Republicans might lose seats in both houses of Congress.
Democrats currently hold 54 seats in the Senate and 254 in the House. Votes are still being counted in some constituencies such as Alaska and Mississippi, but it is certain that Democrats will gain a majority in both chambers.
Ruth Greenwood, director of the Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School, explains, ``Due to state laws and practices, it takes time to count votes in some states.''
"That does not mean there is fraud. We have no choice but to trust that local election officials will count all the votes and announce the results once they are done."
The result of this election was clear from the night of the election. Trump told the New York Times that night that he was "looking forward to working with [Democrats]" and that "we'll probably find some solutions together."
Trump has also offered his own analysis of why the Republican Party lost. In an interview with Fox News, he said that the war with Iran was a contributing factor. "The public approves of what I'm doing on Iran, but I don't think they were going to spend more on gasoline in the short term, which is understandable."
Vice President J.D. Vance has also cited the war with Iran as the reason for the Republican Party's defeat. The war, which began with Israel in February, has severely disrupted oil and gas supplies worldwide and caused prices to soar.
Alleging fraud in past elections
Trump and his supporters have argued for months that the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to former President Joe Biden, was rigged against them. Lawyers and supporters tried for weeks to legally challenge the election results, but courts rejected their efforts each time.
During the Trump administration, the Justice Department has made unprecedented attempts to tighten federal control over elections. The U.S. Constitution gives control of elections primarily to the states.
Just before the midterm elections, the Trump administration filed a controversial lawsuit in federal court challenging the counting and certification of votes in states such as California and Alaska. But judges have rejected nearly all of the claims.
Election law experts, state officials and local elections officials told the BBC they had spent months preparing for the White House and election skeptics to question the legitimacy of the vote.
Amid intense debate on both sides about election integrity, state and local election officials are reporting that the midterm elections are proceeding largely smoothly so far.
During this election, some facilities were closed due to extreme weather. Several administrative and technical problems were reported in some local governments, slowing progress.
(English article: Trump questions midterm elections integrity after previously accepting results)
