Vancouver, Canada:- Voters in the United States have dealt a crushing defeat to the ruling Republican Party in the midterm elections, putting a major check on the powers of President Donald Trump. The voters' verdict has sent a clear message across political circles that the power granted by the people is not meant to be used for pursuing personal whims, but to safeguard public interests.
In the election results, the Democratic Party made a strong comeback, securing a clear majority in both the 435-member House of Representatives (the lower house) and the 100-member Senate. Alongside this, the party also captured power by installing its governors in 30 states.
Although Donald Trump will complete the remaining two years of his term, he no longer enjoys the freedom to take decisions at will as he did earlier. Any legislative decision he seeks to make will now depend on the wishes of the opposition party. Such a strong wave swept in favour of the Democratic Party that even voters in 8–10 states, who had been associated with the Republicans since 1932, were compelled to shift their support to the Democrats.
Voters also proved the surveys conducted by several prominent companies wrong. A notable feature of these midterm elections was that, instead of the narrow majority trends traditionally seen between the two major parties in both houses over the decades, this time the gap was substantial.
At the time of writing, the Democrats had won 228 of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the House of Commons, while results for 68 seats were still awaited. The ruling Republican Party had managed to win only 139 seats.
Under the system in which elections are held for one-third of the 100 Senate seats every two years, voting took place for 35 seats this time. According to the overall figures available, the Democratic Party has won 54 seats and secured a clear majority, while results for two seats are still awaited.
On the other hand, a look at the results for governors across the country's 50 states shows that Democratic supporters have taken control in 28 states, while Republican supporters have secured power in 20 states. The situation remains uncertain in the remaining two states. Congratulating the Democratic Party, Trump said that although his party had not secured a majority in the legislature, he would continue to take decisions of his choice for the strength of America. Former President Barack Obama said the message from American voters in this election was clear: they had stood united in favour of solidarity and against divisive politics, and saw in unity a path towards resolving their problems.
