President of the United States of America, Joe Biden has chickened out of campaign for re-election for second term after his first term of four years.
Biden said today, July 21, while announcing his withdrawal from the race, that his decision was “in the best interest of my party and the country.”
His withdrawal is coming four months before Americans go to the polls, and after weeks of intense pressure from fellow Democrats.
Biden, who dropped the hint of his withdrawal from the race, endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the presidential race.
In a letter posted to his social media account, he said it had been the greatest honour of his life to serve as president.
“And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling the duties as President for the remainder of my term,” he wrote in his statement.
Calls for Biden to withdraw from the race began to grow after a disastrous debate performance in late June against Donald Trump.
During the debate, he was criticised for often being incoherent and speaking in a weak voice, something which his party claimed as down to a cold.
There have been growing calls from within his own party for him to stand aside, with a growing number of congressional Democrats worried his campaign would hurt their own re-election chances in November.
A handful of senators, who sit in the upper chamber of Congress, also called for him to withdraw.
While Kamala Harris has the backing of President Bidden, it is unclear at the moment if she will be selected unopposed as the new candidate.
The focus will now be on the Democratic National Convention which takes place next month, August, in Chicago.
It begins on 19 August, but Biden’s party had sped up the process to comply with a 7 August candidate certification deadline in the state of Ohio, meaning the new nominee should be confirmed in just over two weeks.
Source: BBC.
