On the night of Tuesday November 5 to Wednesday November 6, many French people stayed in front of their television to discover US election results.
Who, Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, emerged victorious? Laurent Delahousse would have liked to announce it live on France 2, but he had to pass the baton.
Results that trickle down
On France 2, it was Laurent Delahousse who was responsible for follow the course of the presidential elections in the United States. This special edition was to dissect the results in each state as the night progressed. Médiamétrie specifies that nearly 200,000 viewers stayed in front of their television sets to follow this “American Night”, also broadcast on Franceinfo.
The results of elections in France are generally known fairly quickly after the polling stations close. But in the United States, several hours, and sometimes even several daysmay be necessary to count and count the votes. It must be said that the United States is much larger than France and that the voting method is quite particular. Laurent Delahousse was live from New York overnight. At 6:30 a.m., he had to return the antenna to Julien Arnaud. A disappointment for the host who would have liked to stay a little longer.
Laurent Delahousse: “If it falls in 5 minutes, I’ll be a little angry”
During this relay, Julien Arnaud thanked Laurent Delahousse but the latter wanted to make his disappointment known: “There is still no president, there are still candidates, and things could change in the next few minutes. If it falls in 5 minutes, I'll be a little angry… After 6:30 a.m., I get a little upset. But otherwise, if it lasts three days, until Saturday morning, I'm in Paris, everything is fine.”.
Julien Arnaud then declared that he expected to have to announce the result of the American elections himself on his show, Télématin. “It's going to fall on 'Télématin', I'm announcing it to you“he said on the air.
Donald Trump elected president of the United States for the second time
In Télématin, around 8 a.m., Julien Arnaud was able to relay live the very important victory of Donald Trump in the state of Pennsylvania. This information was announced by the Fox News channels then CNN before being confirmed by the Associated Press, the American news agency.
Donald Trump officially became the 47th president of the United States around noon, with 277 electors. The Republican candidate takes back the reins after a first term between 2016 and 2020. Laurent Delahousse will not have had the honor of announcing it live but he will have well deserved his rest after a whole night spent covering the event!
