{"id":575983,"date":"2020-11-05T03:43:07","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T03:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2020\/11\/05\/what-were-tracking-on-5-november-2020\/"},"modified":"2020-11-05T03:43:07","modified_gmt":"2020-11-05T03:43:07","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-5-november-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2020\/11\/05\/what-were-tracking-on-5-november-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 5 November 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, friends, we made it through another week together. <\/strong>It\u2019s a quiet news day in Cairo as we join the rest of the world in waiting to see who will emerge victorious from the most contentious US election in generations.<\/p>\n

<\/a> WHERE THINGS STAND NOW: <\/strong>After picking up Michigan and Wisconscin overnight, Biden has four paths to win the six additional electoral college votes he needs to win, while Trump has just one to pick up 56 votes. The race for control of the Senate also remains undecided at 48 seats to each of the Dems and the GOP, and the Democrats remain 14 seats short of retaining the House. And Agent Orange\u2019s campaign is dropping lawsuits left, right and center.<\/p>\n

Things are looking increasingly good for Biden this morning as results tricled in <\/strong>overnight from undecided states.<\/strong> The Red Mirage<\/a> was in full effect in Michigan and Wisconsin \u2014 two Rust Belt states that were leaning towards Trump during the early vote count but were later won by Biden after the absentee ballots were added to the tally. Georgia and Pennsylvania, two other states in which Trump took a strong early lead, are slowly tilting towards the Biden camp, putting Trump\u2019s hopes of reelection in jeopardy.<\/p>\n

The Trump Campaign became increasingly litigious as his leads in Pennsylvania and <\/strong>Georgia narrowed<\/strong> \u2014 and as Wisconsin and Michigan flipped. The campaign has announced legal action<\/a> in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia claiming that poll watchers were denied access to facilities where votes were being tallied and is demanding a recount in Wisconsin. Rudy Giuliani has also threatened a \u201cnational lawsuit\u201d<\/a> in a bizarre press briefing in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

This came just hours after he preemptively declared victory in a speech from the White House<\/strong>, despite the results still showing the two candidates neck and neck, the BBC<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n

In a short speech in front of his supporters<\/a> Biden stopped short of declaring victory<\/strong> but said that he believes he will be the winner after the vote count is over<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Demonstrators <\/strong>began taking to the streets<\/a><\/strong> in cities across the country:<\/strong> Biden supporters held rallies in Chicago, New York and Philadelphia in protest at Trump\u2019s attempts to stop the vote count, while Republican voters gathered in Detroit in response to Trump\u2019s allegations of election fraud.<\/p>\n

Where does the race currently stand?<\/strong> According to the AP\u2019s tally, Biden currently leads Trump in the electoral college vote 264 to 214, leaving him only needing one or two states to pass the all-important 270 mark. Nevada, with its six electoral votes, would not be enough on its own should Trump pull off an unexpected win in Arizona, but winning any of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia will make him president-elect. To win reelection, Trump will need to hold onto his leads in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia, and flip Nevada where Biden currently has a slender 8k lead.<\/p>\n

The outlier:<\/strong> The race for Arizona, which was called for Biden by the AP hours ago, may not be over after all. Biden is seeing his lead shrink in the conservative state as absentee ballots continue to roll in, and is now up by just 75k votes with 86% reported. NBC and other organizations still see the race as too close to call.<\/p>\n

So, when can we expect a final result?<\/strong> Right now it is unclear when the remaining states will declare due to the sheer volume of mail-in ballots. We could be waiting until tonight or even tomorrow before a winner is eventually declared.<\/p>\n

Congressional races aren\u2019t breaking the Dems\u2019 way: <\/strong>Despite looking like they\u2019re on course to take back the White House, Democrats are unlikely to do the same with the Senate and face the prospect of a smaller majority in the House, CNN<\/a> says. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described the night as \u201cchallenging\u201d<\/a> as seven Democratic House representatives lost their seats and gained only two seats in the Senate. With the Senate currently neck and neck at 48-48, it still remains possible that the Democrats could eke out a tiny majority, while in the race for the House, Republicans are trailing 190 to 205.<\/p>\n

Investors don\u2019t seem phased at all by the state of affairs<\/strong>, with stock markets surging yesterday on what Reuters<\/a> says are hopes for gridlock in Washington. Asian markets are up in early trading this morning<\/strong> and futures point to European markets and Wall Street following suit later today. Seemingly ignoring the slimmer chances of a sizable stimulus bill with a Republican Senate, the newswire says that political dysfunction is now being seen positively in that legislators will be unable to make any major policy changes.<\/p>\n

But major policy changes are exactly what the country needs, says El Erian:<\/strong> A divided electorate and a split Congress will present huge challenges for the country in solving the current health and economic crises, markets sage Mohamed El Erian writes for the Financial Times<\/a>. The results of the election mean that the country may be \u201cboth unwilling and unable to embark on the decisive measures needed,\u201d he writes. In the short term, varying state policies toward battling covid-19 will likely fail at appropriately curbing the virus, while in the long term continued reliance by the Federal Reserve on ineffectual monetary policy tools may distort markets and do little to stimulate spending, creating a slump that could reverberate across the global economy.<\/p>\n

\"enterprise\"<\/p>\n

Over in our neighbourhood, people would rather that both of them lost the <\/strong>election.<\/strong> The majority of people in the Middle East don\u2019t want to see Trump or Biden make it into office, according to a survey conducted by Arab News and polling firm YouGov in which 49% of respondents chose neither candidate when asked who would be better for the Arab region.<\/p>\n

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The <\/strong>Cityscape<\/a><\/strong> real estate exhibition kicked off yesterday and runs through this <\/strong>Saturday <\/strong>at the Egyptian International Exhibition Center in New Cairo. The exhibition was slated for March, but was pushed back due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Netflix\u2019s first made-in-Egypt original series debuts today. <\/strong>Paranormal is based on the best-selling books of Ahmed Khaled Tawfek. It stars Ahmed Amin and Razane Jammal and is already in our queue to watch this weekend. You can check out the trailer and teasers here on the official website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Voting continues today and tomorrow for Egyptians abroad in the second phase of <\/strong>House elections.<\/strong> Casting their ballots are folks registered in Cairo, Dakalia, Qalyubia, Menofia, Gharbia, Kafr El Sheikh, Sharqia, Damietta, Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, North Sinai and South Sinai. Expats have until Friday to vote.<\/p>\n

Polls open for voters here at home on Saturday<\/strong> and Sunday, 7-8 November.<\/p>\n

Other news triggers to keep your eye on:<\/strong><\/p>\n