No doubt, this has certainly been US President-elect, Donald Trump's year, as he has obviously been winning on all sides despite all odds. Just
No doubt, this has certainly been US President-elect, Donald Trump’s year, as he has obviously been winning on all sides despite all odds. Just as the US electoral college has certified him as the 45th president, cruising past the 270 votes needed to formalise his victory, the Republican has topped a 2016 AFP poll to emerge the most influential person of the year, just ahead of Russian and Turkish leaders Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The poll which was witnessed by 300 AFP journalists around the world, working in all languages and sections of the agency voted from a selection of key players that have driven the news in 2016. Again, reflecting a year where people have rejected traditional elites in democratic countries, Trump stood ahead of two politicians who have defied the traditional powers in the West, Putin and Erdogan.
In the poll, while Hilary Clinton came in, in the fourth position, Barack Obama is in the distant seventh position while the outgoing First lady, Michelle Obama is in the 10th position. Just a few weeks ago, the political neophyte was named by Time magazine as its person of the year for 2016, calling him the ‘president of the divided states of America.’ While Trump wasn’t quite happy about the title, he nonetheless accepted the honour.
In Times poll, he beat out 10 other finalists, including Hillary Clinton; Simone Biles, the Olympic gymnast; Beyoncé; Mark Zuckerberg etc. The magazine’s ‘No. 2’ person of the year was Hilary Clinton who was certainly on track to win the popular vote before losing out.
