US President Barack Obama has been re-elected, making history by winning a second term in the White House and defeating his Republican challenger Mitt Romney in the US Presidential election.
The 44th US president, and the first African American to claim the Oval Office, was returned to power when television networks projected he would take Ohio and his spiritual political home of Iowa.
Obama became only the second Democrat to secure two White House terms since the 2nd World War.
Exit polls revealed a deeply divided electorate and seemed to ensure a renewal of the polarisation that has gridlocked Washington.
Obama said in his victory speech that the American people need to have a shared vision going forward.
