After more than a year of campaigning by Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, it all came down to Tuesday’s 2016 U.S. presidential election. All eyes were on the American voters, and after a long campaign full of scandal and controversy, they chose Donald Trump as their next president.
Here are five things that shaped the historic night.
Trump pulls it off
In the end it was Trump — a brash and outrageous candidate who often seemed in over his head — who pulled off a massive upset and is now set to become the 45th president of the United States of America.
At first, it seemed a long shot; a billionaire real estate mogul-turned reality TV star with no political experience becoming commander in chief. But he managed to connect with voters, promising to bring back jobs and “make America great again.”
In the end, despite sexual assault allegations and questionable policy, his promise of prosperity stuck and he got the win.
All predictions out the window
The day before the election, there was overwhelming consensus that Clinton had it in the bag. As results began to roll in Tuesday evening, Trump swiftly began dominating poll numbers, and the nail biting began.
First, Trump won the key state Ohio. Florida remained a closely-watched battle before Trump’s Republican red swallowed up the swing state. Then he took North Carolina.
That’s when online predictions wildly tilted in Trump’s favour.
Markets plunge
Trump’s lead launched the world’s financial markets on a rollercoaster ride.
WATCH: World markets plummet amid news of Donald Trump election win
The U.S. dollar slumped while the Mexican peso took its biggest plunge in two decades. The yen saw a boost against the greenback, and the euro jumped by 2.2 per cent.
Oil prices fell to $43 a barrel, its lowest level since September.
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Those shying away from currency grabbed hold of sovereign bonds and gold, which both surged.
“There’s a lot of panic in the market, it is definitely an outcome it was not expecting,” Juan Carlos Alderete, a strategist at Banorte-IXE told Reuters.
Canada’s immigration webpage goes down
With the reality of a President Trump becoming more real, Canada’s immigration website appeared to go down.
The CIC website provides information on how to immigrate to Canada and gain citizenship. Users came across 404 error messages and internal server errors, presumably due to a surge in traffic.
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The repeated outages were reported by users in the United States, Canada and across Asia. The federal agency hasn’t commented on why the website experienced issues.
History also shows that an election can spur people to make the move: Immigration to Canada doubled after George W. Bush’s 2004 win.
The world looks to its new reality
As Trump’s lead widened, the U.S. citizens not packing up and driving north began to ponder the “new” America. People went online to express their fears of families being torn apart due to Trump’s promises of deporting “illegals,” fears for LGBTQ loved ones, and fears for their country seemingly going in reverse.
Others celebrated Trump’s win as the first step to getting the country back on track.
South Korea’s foreign minister expressed confidence Trump would maintain the current U.S. policy of pressuring North Korea over its nuclear and missile tests, Reuters reported.
An ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel said “we have no idea what this American president will do,” in reference to Trump.
Clinton conceded to Trump in a phone call shortly after 2 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
Early Wednesday morning Trump took the stage in Manhattan and vowed to seek common ground with nations around the globe, while always putting America’s needs first.
“It is time for us to come together as one united people,” Trump said.
“Working together we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding the nation and renewing the American dream.”
— With files from Carmen Chai
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