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In Fulton County, ballot papers are being evaluated again: it could take some time until the final result
Photo: Ben Gray / AP
In the important Senate runoff elections in the US state of Georgia, a neck-to-neck race is looming.
After more than three quarters of the votes were counted, according to the US media on Tuesday evening (local time), the opponents were almost tied in both races.
Most recently, Republican incumbents David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler were slightly ahead.
However, the US television stations have not yet wanted to declare any winners because of the narrow lead.
According to officials, it can take several days before the final results are known.
According to forecasts by the New York Times, however, the Democrats are likely to have a head start in the next few hours.
The reason is therefore the numerous voices that have not yet been evaluated from the region around the city of Atlanta, which are likely to be predominantly democratic.
Election for future President Biden enormously important
The Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock challenge Perdue and Loeffler.
The runoff elections in the southern state will determine the future majority in the US Senate - and how much leeway the future US President Joe Biden can hope for in the first two years of his term in office.
Because the outcome of the Georgia elections depends on whether Biden's Democrats can still gain control of the Senate.
The Republicans of the outgoing US President Donald Trump only have one more seat to just keep a majority in the parliamentary chamber.
If the Democrats Ossoff and Warnock win both posts, there would be a stalemate in the Senate - the decisive vote would then be with the new Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
Among other things, the Senate confirms presidential candidates for government posts and can block bills.
On November 3, parallel to the presidential election, around a third of the Senate seats were up for a vote.
In Georgia, however, none of the Senate candidates achieved the necessary absolute majority in the first round.
That made the runoff elections necessary.
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fek / dpa / AFP