Obama takes lead

President Barack Obama has now taken the lead in the electoral vote count.

Based on projections, he now has 172 votes while his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney has 163 votes.

A candidate needs 270 votes to win.

Each state has a quota of Electoral College votes based on its population, and the eventual winner will be the candidate who tallies the most.

Of 51 states (including District of Columbia), 36 have been declared.

Obama has held on to three states that were in play, Pennsylvania, Michigan and New Hampshire.

Just a few minutes ago he has also won in Wisconsin.

The count continues in all important swing states Florida, Virginia and Ohio.

President Barack Obama won the reliably Democratic Northeast, and Republican Mitt Romney secured his conservative base.

Obama has taken Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine and Romney's home state of Massachusetts.

Also, as expected, he won Delaware and Maryland as well as the District of Columbia and Illinois.

Obama won Michigan, repeating his 2008 victory there.

Romney's father George was governor of Michigan in the 1960s and Mitt Romney was born and raised there.

Obama also took Pennsylvania, continuing a Democratic streak dating back to 1992.

Romney had Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Kentucky and West Virginia in his column.

He also won Indiana, a state Obama carried in 2008 but did not contest this year.
 
Voters also chose a new Congress to serve alongside the man who will be inaugurated president in January - Democrats defending their majority in the Senate, and Republicans in the House.

Meanwhile Mitt Romney said earlier today that he's intellectually and emotionally convinced he'll win the White House, and has penned a 1118 word victory speech he hopes to unveil tonight.

However the results so far declared leaves Obama with a much easier path to the White House than Romney who appeared to need at least five of the remaining seven swing states, possibly including Florida, Ohio, and Virginia.

Obama appears to be performing well in the key counties in Florida, in some cases matching his showing of his stirring 2008 White House race, likely powered by African American and Hispanic voters.

US embassy Vice Counsel Robert Lakeslee said that anything can still happen.