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During his election campaign, Donald Trump made repeated claims that the election was unfairly rigged. He also questioned the voting process.

Today, the truth of Donald Trump’s statement has been undeniably proven correct after he won the election – despite losing the popular vote.

The recent election results showed that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton gained 25.6 per cent of the vote, while Trump gained 25.5 per cent of the vote. A further 46.9 per cent didn’t vote and 1.7 per cent voted for Johnson.

So with those figures in mind, how did Trump become elected as president despite losing the popular vote?

Well it seems that America may not be as democratic as it first appears and the answer lies in the Electoral College.

The Electoral College is an institution started by one of America’s founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson.

The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors who cast votes to decide who the next President and Vice-President of the United States will be. The candidate who receives a majority of electoral votes (270) wins the Presidency. The number 538 is the sum of the nation’s 435 Representatives, 100 Senators, and 3 electors given to the District of Columbia.

Electors are usually people chosen by their political parties at state conventions. Most of the time, these electors vote in favour of their state’s nominee.

This results in a system whereby a candidate can win the popular vote but be vetoed by the Electoral College.

Another example where this has happened is in the year 2000 when George W Bush lost the popular vote to Al Gore by .51 per cent but won the electoral college 271 to 266.

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