A joint session of the US Congress on Thursday formally certified the election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States in a ceremony rich in history and symbolism.
Vice President Dick Cheney, in one of his final duties in his role as president of the Senate, confirmed the result of the November 4 election after electoral votes allocated to each state were tallied in a traditional ceremony.
Loud cheers and applause erupted from the packed Democratic benches of the House of Representatives when Cheney formally announced the result -- 365 electoral votes for Obama and 173 for Republican John McCain.
Both candidates, neither of whom were present, received standing ovations during the ceremony, the final formal step apart from the January 20 inauguration, of the epic 2008 election race.
"Barack Obama of the state of Illinois has received for president of the United States 365 votes," said Cheney, as he stood alongside House speaker Nancy Pelosi in the historic session.
"John McCain of the state of Arizona has received 173 votes."
Cheney ordered the results of the election to be recorded in official congressional records, thereby formally authenticating Democrat Obama's triumph, and confirming he will become the first black US president.
During the ceremony Democratic senators and House members sat beaming on the brown House benches, while their Republican candidates, forced by tradition to attend, sat grim faced.
Lawmakers looked on as electoral certificates from each state were handed to appointed tellers, two from the Senate and two from the House, who read out the results in alphabetical order.
New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer had the duty of reading the return from Obama's home state of Illinois.
"Mr President, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of Illinois appears to be regular in form and authentic, and it appears therefrom that Barack Obama from the state of Illinois received 21 votes for president and Joseph Biden of Delaware received 21 votes for vice president."
US presidents are not elected by a popular vote but rather by an electoral college made up of 538 electors apportioned by a formula corresponding with the size of each state's delegation in Congress.
A majority of 270 electoral votes, most, but not all of which are doled out on a winner-take-all basis in the states, is required for a candidate to become president.
The 12th amendment to the US Constitution requires electors from each state to meet to vote for president and vice president, a process that was completed last month, before formally sending the results to the president of the Senate.
The following video was aired by C-Span on Jan. 8, 2009.
A joint session of the US Congress on Thursday formally certified the election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States in a ceremony rich in history and symbolism.