Congress coloured red and blue again

Democrats narrowly won majority in the US Senate while Republicans retained the control of the House of Representatives, leaving newly-elected President Barack Obama to deal with a divided Congress once again.

Democrats narrowly won majority in the US Senate while Republicans retained the control of the House of Representatives, leaving newly-elected President Barack Obama to deal with a divided Congress once again.

Apart from the Presidential polls in which Obama defeated Republican Mitt Romney, elections for 33 of 100 Senate seats were held along with all 435 seats of the House of Representatives. Democrats had so far secured 52 seats to Republicans' 44 in the Senate, while Republicans in the House had at least 224 seats and Democrats 171.

Republicans fell short in their bid to win the Senate and take full control of Congress, two years after the party's gains in the midterm elections. Democrats also fell short of their goal to take control of the 435-member chamber.

While the Republican Party insisted that the result means that there is "no mandate for raising tax rates" on the American people, the Democratic Senate leadership said that this is time to put politics aside.

"Now that the election is over, it's time to put politics aside, and work together to find solutions. The strategy of obstruction, gridlock and delay was soundly rejected by the American people. Now, they are looking to us for solutions," the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, said in a statement.