Joe Biden wins 2020 US presidential election, Kamala Harris scripts history

Democrat Joe Biden won the US presidency on Saturday after a long-drawn and closely-fought election.

Joe Biden's projected victory came after four days of nail-biting suspense over the outcome of the election, with the counting of votes in a handful of battleground states still going on.

To secure the win, Joe Biden faced unprecedented challenges. These included Republican-led efforts to limit mail-in voting at a time when a record number of people were due to vote by mail because of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 235,000 people in the United States

Despite the results, the election drama is likely to play out for weeks, if not months. Donald Trump, 74, is contesting the vote in the courts, but legal experts said his challenges had little chance of affecting the outcome.

Joe Biden, who has spent half a century in public life as a US senator and then vice president, will inherit a nation in turmoil over the pandemic and economic slowdown as well as disruptive protests against racism and police brutality.

Joe Biden contested the 2020 US presidential election with 56-year-old Kamala Harris as his running mate.

Kamala Harris has been a rising star in Democratic politics for much of the last two decades, serving as San Francisco's district attorney and California's attorney general before becoming a US senator.

With this victory, Kamala Harris has made history to become the first Black woman elected as vice-president of the United States, shattering barriers that have kept men entrenched at the highest levels of American politics for more than two centuries.

Joe Biden's running mate selection carried added significance because he will be the oldest president ever inaugurated, at 78, and hasn't committed to seeking a second term in 2024.

Joe Biden has previously served as the Vice-President of the United States under the presidency of Barack Obama and was also his running mate.