In the capital of the United States of America, Washington, a session of both houses of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representatives is held, where the members of that body should confirm the epilogue of the US presidential elections - by certifying the votes of the Electoral College.
It is also the last instance of the election process - before the presidential inauguration on January 20.
The session, which will be chaired by US Vice President Kamala Harris, also the defeated Democratic candidate in the race with President-elect Donald Trump, is mandatory according to the US Constitution.
All of this is happening exactly on the four-year anniversary of the violent storming of the Capitol, the seat of the US legislative power in Washington, when some of Trump's supporters protested against unsubstantiated claims of irregularities that, they believed, led to his defeat in 2020 by outgoing President Joe Biden.
Allegations of irregularities have been dismissed by courts across the country.
Technically, it is necessary for Congress to confirm the outcome of the vote of the electors of each American state. In recent days, security measures have been increased in downtown Washington because of this - including a metal fence near the Capitol building.
The procedure entails the delivery of election documents in special mahogany boxes used for the occasion. The confirmation process is organized so that Republican and Democratic representatives read the results aloud and officially count the votes.
The US Vice President, who presides over the Senate, announces the winner. If the result is tied, the House of Representatives decides on the winner - with each congressional delegation having one vote. That hasn't happened since the 1800s, and it shouldn't this time, either, because the election result is 312 electoral votes to 226 in favor of Trump.
In relation to the previous certification in 2021 and the violence that marked it - Congress tightened the rules. Then a section of supporters of the now-defeated President-elect Donald Trump made a violent incursion into the congressional building in an attempt to stop the process - due to baseless claims of election abuses that caused Trump's defeat and outgoing President Biden's victory.
The vote-counting law was revised in 2022 to more explicitly define the role of the Senate president and US vice president — as Donald Trump pressed former Vice President Mike Pence to oppose a Republican defeat that would go well beyond his ceremonial role. Pence then rejected Trump, which confirmed the defeat of the Republicans, which, according to the American public, will be done this time by Harris on behalf of the Democrats. According to the revised law, the vice president has no right to determine the results, but only to confirm them.
After the results of the electoral vote of some of the American states are announced during the session, a member of Congress has the opportunity to file an objection on any basis. However, the Speaker will not approve the review unless it is in writing and signed by a fifth of the members of both houses of Congress.
That is significantly more compared to the 2020 elections, when the consideration of objections required the support of one member of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The threshold was raised by the 2022 law - to make it more difficult to lodge unfounded objections.
If consideration of the objection were to be accepted, the joint session of Congress would be adjourned - and the Senate and the House of Representatives would deal with it in separate sessions. In order for the objection to be adopted, the support of both houses of Congress is required, and that is by a simple majority of votes.
Congressional confirmation of the Electoral College vote sets the stage for the last instance of the voting process - which is the presidential inauguration that takes place at the Capitol on January 20 at noon.
There is no indication that there could be problems - similar to those four years ago.
After several hours of unrest subsided, during which hundreds of protesters broke into Congress and literally chased its members around the building, Joseph Biden's victory was confirmed.
The death of six people was associated with that violent event, while hundreds were injured in the riots. Material damage to and inside the US Congress building was estimated at 2,8 million dollars.
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