Republicans win control of US Senate

The Republican Party has won control of the Senate in the US mid-term elections, increasing its power in the final two years of Barack Obama’s presidency.

The party won in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia.

And it is expected to post more gains as votes are counted in other states.

The party is also set to strengthen its majority in the lower House of Representatives.

Throughout the campaign, Republicans focused on voter dissatisfaction with Mr Obama, describing the vote as a referendum on his presidency.

As the first results came in late on Tuesday, it became clear they had made convincing gains in the roughly one-third of the 100 Senate seats up for election.

With the votes still being counted in many states, the Republican Party appears easily to have won the six seats it needed to win control of the Senate.

In addition to seats the party won from the Democrats, the Republicans retained seats in Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.

BBC