Joe Biden is factual winner of US election, says Czech Foreign Minister

Prague, Nov 7 (CTK) - Democrat Joe Biden is the factual winner of the U.S. presidential election, Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček told CTK in reaction to the media reports on Biden's victory.

Still, he is likely to face disputes and recounts of votes, Petříček added.

Petříček also congratulated Biden on his victory, saying he was looking forward to cooperation with the new U.S. administration and believed in the continuation of friendship and a firm alliance between Europe and the United States.

Almost four days after polling stations closed in the United States, the AP news agency as well as major TV networks projected that the former vice-president Biden had won in the key state of Pennsylvania and thus secured a majority in the US Electoral College.

Czech politicians congratulated Biden on the victory on social media. President Miloš Zeman sent a letter of congratulation to to him, in which he invited Biden to Prague.

"This election is really unusual," Petříček wrote to CTK.

"Joe Biden is already the factual certain winner, but I do not dare to estimate what else may happen in the USA - some states have already announced that they will recount the votes."

The Foreign Minister added that in any event, he would like to highlight the margin more than four million votes in favor of Biden in the popular vote, even though this is not a decisive factor in the US election system.

Incumbent President Donald Trump, defending the post, reacted to the development with a statement to the press in which he did not accept his defeat, and again questioned the results.

"The simple fact is this election is far from over," Trump wrote in the statement.