Bush camp declares President the winner

President George Bush's Chief of Staff Andrew Card has declared the President the winner of the US presidential election "by a decisive margin of victory".

He said Republicans were "convinced that President George Bush has won re-election with 286 electoral votes". That tally included the as-yet undeclared states of Ohio, Iowa and New Mexico.

"In this election, President Bush received more votes than any presidential candidate in our country's history…with a margin of more than 3.5 million in the popular vote," said Mr Card.

In Ohio, Republicans claimed a lead of "at least" 148,000 votes. "The Secretary of State's office informs us that this margin is statistically insurmountable, even after provisional ballots are considered, so President Bush has won the state of Ohio," added Mr Card.

However, Democrats have said they believe they can still win in Ohio and told party faithful today that "every vote will be counted".

George Bush is to give a speech later today.

Referring to his boss's rival for the presidency, Mr Card said: "The President has decided to give Senator Kerry the respect of more time to reflect on the result."