Republican Donald Trump stunned the world by defeating heavily favored rival Hillary Clinton in Wednesday’s (AEST) presidential election, ending eight years of Democratic rule and sending the United States on a new, uncertain path.

A wealthy real estate developer and former reality TV host, Trump rode a wave of anger toward Washington insiders to win the White House race against Clinton, the Democratic candidate whose gold-plated establishment resume included stints as a first lady, US senator and secretary of state.

President Barack Obama, who campaigned hard against Trump, telephoned the Republican to congratulate him on his victory and invited him to the White House for a meeting on Thursday, the White House said in a statement.

“Ensuring a smooth transition of power is one of the top priorities the President identified at the beginning of the year and a meeting with the President-elect is the next step,” the White House said.

US President-elect Donald Trump is flanked by members of his family as well as relatives of Vice President-elect Mike Pence while speaking at his election night rally in Manhattan, New York, US, November 9, 2016. (Photo: Reuters)

Worried that a Trump victory could cause economic and global uncertainty, investors were in full flight from risky assets.

The US dollar, Mexican peso and world stocks fell on Wednesday but fears of the kind of shock that wiped trillions of dollars off global markets after Britain’s “Brexit” vote in June have failed to materialise so far.

Trailing in public opinion polls for months, Trump pulled off a major surprise and collected enough of the 270 state-by-state electoral votes needed to win, taking battleground states where presidential elections are traditionally decided, US television networks projected. His four-year term starts on January 20.

Trump appeared with his family on Wednesday night (AEST) before cheering supporters in a New York hotel ballroom, saying it was time to heal the divisions caused by the campaign and find common ground after a campaign that exposed deep differences among Americans.

“It is time for us to come together as one united people,” Trump said. “I will be president for all Americans.”

He said he had received a call from Clinton to congratulate him on the win and praised her for her service and for a hard-fought campaign.

His comments were an abrupt departure from his campaign trail rhetoric in which he repeatedly slammed Clinton as “crooked” amid supporters’ chants of “lock her up.”

But Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, on Wednesday did not rule out the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton’s past conduct, a threat Trump made in an election debate last month.

Republicans also kept control of the US Congress. Television networks projected the party would retain majorities in both the 100-seat Senate and the House of Representatives, where all 435 seats were up for grabs.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to vote in the US presidential election at Grafflin Elementary School in Chappaqua, New York November 8, 2016. (Photo: Reuters)

Despite losing the state-by-state electoral battle that determines the US presidency, Clinton narrowly led Trump in the nationwide popular vote, according to US media tallies. It would mark the second time in 16 years that a Democratic candidate lost the presidency despite winning more votes than the victor. In 2000, Democrat Al Gore got more votes than Republican George W. Bush.

At Clinton’s election event, an electric atmosphere among supporters expecting to see her become America’s first woman president dissipated.

Clinton did not immediately make a concession speech, instead sending campaign chairman John Podesta out to tell her supporters to go home. “We’re not going to have anything more to say tonight,” he said.

Prevailing in a cliffhanger race that opinion polls had clearly forecast as favoring a Clinton victory, Trump won avid support among a core base of white non-college educated workers with his promise to be the “greatest jobs president that God ever created.” He did well in “Rust Belt” states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio.

In his victory speech, he said he had a great economic plan, would embark on a project to rebuild American infrastructure and would double US economic growth.

Trump, who at 70 will be the oldest first-term US president, came out on top after a bitter and divisive campaign that focused largely on the character of the candidates and whether they could be trusted in the Oval Office.

The presidency will be Trump’s first elected office, and it remains to be seen how he will work with Congress. During the campaign Trump was the target of sharp disapproval, not just from Democrats but from many in his own party.

A man photographs T-shirts bearing images of newly elected US President Donald Trump (L) next to one with an image of US President Barack Obama, displayed outside a stall in Jerusalem’s Old City November 9, 2016. (Photo: Reuters)

STUNNED WORLD

Foreign leaders pledged to work with Trump but some officials expressed alarm that the vote could mark the end of an era in which Washington promoted democratic values and was seen by its allies as a guarantor of peace.

During the campaign, Trump expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, questioned central tenets of the NATO military alliance and suggested that Japan and South Korea should develop nuclear weapons to shoulder their own defense burden.

Russia and Putin appeared to be winners from Trump’s victory. Defying years of US foreign policy orthodoxy, the Republican has promised much warmer relations with Moscow, despite Russia’s intervention in the Syrian civil war and its seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea region.

Russia’s parliament erupted in applause after a lawmaker announced that Trump had been elected, and Putin told foreign ambassadors he was ready to fully restore ties with Washington.

“It is not an easy path but we are ready to do our part and do everything to return Russian and American relations to a stable path of development,” Putin said.

Russia is hoping that improved relations could yield an elusive prize: the lifting or easing of sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union to punish Moscow for its 2014 annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

French President Francois Hollande delivers a statement on US election results at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, November 9, 2016. (Photo: Reuters)

Governments in Britain, China, Germany, Israel, Japan and Turkey also congratulated Trump and said they would work with him.

Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped to reach “new heights” in bilateral ties under Trump. Chinese President Xi Jinping said Beijing and Washington shared responsibility for promoting global development and prosperity.

Other officials, some of them with senior roles in government, took the unusual step of denouncing the outcome, calling it a worrying signal for liberal democracy and tolerance in the world.

“Trump is the pioneer of a new authoritarian and chauvinist international movement. He is also a warning for us,” German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said in an interview with the Funke newspaper group.

US neighbor Mexico was pitched into deep uncertainty by the victory for Trump, who has often accused it of stealing US jobs and sending criminals across the border.

Trump wants to rewrite international trade deals to reduce trade deficits and has taken positions that raise the possibility of damaging relations with America’s most trusted allies in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

The Mexican peso plunged more than 13 percent before recovering some ground. The peso had become a touchstone for sentiment on the election as Trump threatened to rip up a free trade agreement with Mexico.

Trump’s win raises a host of questions for the United States at home and abroad. He campaigned on a pledge to take the country on a more isolationist, protectionist “America First” path. He has vowed to impose a 35 percent tariff on goods exported to the United States by US companies that went abroad.

– Reuters